Invasion by Betrayal
by Ron-Lugge
Summary: The Ithkul invade Terran Federation space, and war insues. Betrayal follows betrayal, as the Ithkul use spies to weaken the Terrans and a powerful Terran defects. *PLEASE Read and Review!*
1. Part 1

Part 1  
  
Captain Kane, a medium sized man with brown hair and a plain face, walked onto his bridge. Despite "normal" protocol, no one came to attention or called "captain on the bridge." He had long since decided that his ego didn't need inflating, and removed those particular traditions from his bridge. The bridge was sparse, and utilitarian, but the air was fresh, and clean despite the age of the recyclers. The deck was worn, and the seats a little threadbare. The consoles were all flat, and made out of durable old technology instead of the newer holo-imagery that a capital ship might have. He looked at the forward view screen, a large square that filled the entire forward wall, and displayed information for his perusal, either the status of his ship or anything else he wanted thrown on it. The survey of the system was nearly complete. Right now it showed the reports for each department, how far along they were in recharting the system. The sensor officer, who doubled as the science officer, was finishing the analysis of the anomaly.  
  
His hands flew over his console as he shifted from one screen to another, pushing the sensors to their utmost in an effort to get more information. His hands didn't stop; he stayed staring intently at his console when the captain walked up and leaned over his shoulder. His voice was an odd amalgamation of excitement with his work, boredom, and disinterest in his conversation. He was not a normal man, interested mainly in the science portion of his job, making him perfect for an exploration class vessel. He began to tell Captain Kane of his findings. "It looks almost like a starlane captain, but there is something odd about it. My normal scans don't register it, only the new inter-space scanner. As far as I can tell, it only punches INTO the normal space barrier, riding along the inside of it, as opposed to being on this side or the other side," Lieutenant Goodridge said.  
  
"What is that supposed to mean?"  
  
"Ever heard of the pre-space wormhole theory sir?"  
  
"No, I ha-wait, the one where a starlane like "tunnel" connects two points in space, even across the galaxy?"  
  
"Precisely captain. I think that's what we're looking at here. Unlike a starlane, rather than tunneling through otherspace, it tunnels through normal space. Because of that, an otherspace scanner just can't register it. Also, a normal space scanner doesn't register it because it doesn't occur in normal space. The only place you can see it, is at its terminus, and only if you are looking at the inter-space barrier, like we are."  
  
"Can you send a probe through?"  
  
Commander Kirk, the first officer who doubled as the tactical officer, spoke up, "I'd recommend against doing that captain."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"For all we know, the Antarans are on the other side. We don't want to risk a war with them. I'd recommend we place some scanner buoys and get out, let high command make the decisions."  
  
The science officer frowned. "Commander Kirk, we can send a stealth probe through, would that solve your problem? I doubt it could end up anywhere near Antaran space anyway. It's headed in the wrong direction. My scans indicate that it probably ends on the far side of the galaxy."  
  
"I don't care if the Commander cares for your idea Lieutenant. We'll proceed with the stealth probe."  
  
"Captain! That's-"  
  
"I said we would proceed with the stealth probe." Kane straightened out, and turned his head to face Kirk, his expression severe. That issue is not up for discussion. Don't push it." His voice turned soft, "you were sent out here for a reason." The captain didn't complete that thought. He didn't need to. Kirk knew that if he pushed it, he might end up executed.  
  
"Of course sir, I didn't mean to-"  
  
"Commander, I said don't push it. Close your rotten mouth, and go back to the inventory I asked you for. Or are you incapable of that task? Or, perhaps you feel it's beneath you?"  
  
"No sir! I'll get it to you right away!"  
  
"I want it on my desk five minutes ago." Kane snapped, eyes angry, his voice beating the seemingly confident Kirk back, in the already familiar scene. "And when you're finished, help Ensign Kelvor with the shuttle bay maintenance. And since she needs practice commanding, why don't you let her act as your superior?" The last part wasn't a question, and the Commander knew it.  
  
"Right away sir." Kirk replied, cowed.  
  
"Good. Now, go."  
  
"Lieutenant Goodridge. Is the stealth probe ready?"  
  
"Yes sir, I can launch on-" An alarm on his console wailed, interrupting him. "Captain! I'm registering three warships, incoming through the wormhole. ETA uncertain. I'm reading a scan error captain, this can't be right."  
  
"Just a moment Goodridge. Commander Kirk, belay my prior orders. Go help Ensign Apoc with his weapons array now. And since he needs practice as a leader, follow his orders. Should we go to general quarters, remain there and take his orders." The captain turned back to his sensor officer. "What do you read?"  
  
"According to these scans, they're two and a half times larger than an Archer class missile boat."  
  
"You're right. The archers are our largest super dreadnoughts; those babies can't be larger. Re-calibrate your scans."  
  
"Already done Captain. You're not going to like this. I'd say they are larger than the Archers. Maybe four times as large. They're leviathans captain." A beeping sound distracted the Lieutenant. His voice suddenly took on a much sharper edge, but remained relatively calm. "Ah HELL! Captain, I'm reading weapons hot! Repeat, the incomings have weapons hot. Their shields are at standby. I've got the analyses of them captain."  
  
"Put it on view screen." Captain Kane studied the forward viewscreen, and paled. The computer showed listings of each weapon and it's firing arc. The list was enormous. The incoming ships were not only come in at battle readiness, they also had the firepower to blow the crust off of a planet. The computer also gave a less detailed reading on their defenses, and some of their combat peripherals. It looked like their shields were massive, but they seemed almost crude. In a small corner the computer showed an outline of the incoming ships, and their lines were simple, flowing almost organically from one part to the next. Because of its size, individual weapons were too small to be seen, but he knew they were there. "Those three ships have more firepower than the entire home fleet! At least it's almost entirely in close range beams, and it looks like they sacrifice speed for it. I'd hate to have to engage at point blank." He addressed the con, the officer who flew the ship. "Con, back us off from the wormhole. Put us at the outer edge of our missile range. All hands, battlestations." Kane glanced at the tactical station, saw Kirk there, and glowered. "KIRK! I thought I sent you to Ensign Apoc!"  
  
"I was finishing the Inventory-"  
  
"I SAID go to Ensign Apoc NOW. I didn't say finish your inventory analyses! Now, get MOVING. I want our beam cluster up yesterday! And Apoc is in command down there!" Turning away from Kirk, Kane began to bark orders to everyone else. Captain to Lieutenant Armstrong! To the bridge, you're handling tactical! Sensor do you recognize the architecture? Can you get a read on their ETA?"  
  
"I don't recognize it, but the computer might. It looks like maybe four more minutes. I'm not certain. Computer recognizes them captain! They're- " Goodridge stopped, mid-sentence.  
  
"Goodridge?" The captain glanced over, and then stared. The normally unflappable Goodridge was staring at his console, pale, and slack-jawed. Kane asked softly, "What's wrong?"  
  
"They seem to be..." Goodridge swallowed. "They seem to be Ithkul sir. The harvesters." Except for the alarms, all was silent. The Ithkul were creatures of legend, if they could even be considered legends. They were barely myth, just whispers and data on chips that had crossed half the galaxy. No one in the area knew of them, no one wanted to. If the rumors were true, they were implacably hostile, evil, and aggressive. To the best of his limited knowledge, no one had ever even spoken with them.  
  
"Confirm that." Kane swiftly threw himself into his command seat with a speed which would have been called running, had there been enough room. He swiveled it to face his Con officer. "Con, get us to the starlane heading away from home, now. We have to lead them away from New Terra until defenses can be mobilized."  
  
"Confirmed sir! Harvesters!" Lieutenant Goodridge barked out.  
  
"Communications launch a stealth courier towards Terra. The message will read as follows. 'From Captain Kane, CO Ajax, Hull number 932041, a cruiser sized missile armed scout. To first admiral Sencho. As of this date and time-insert current d and t-I have a confirmed reading of three Ithkul warships, leviathan sized approaching the Sirius system via recently discovered wormhole. Weapons load out and analyses appended-Goodridge, transfer your readings and analyses to communications-and am attempting to lead them away from home on the outbound warp point of the Braska system. Will lead them to the Kapla system via the Woo system. That makes my course Braska-Yevon-Woo-Kapla. ETA-con, work that out-suggest having as many reinforcements as possible. Request confirmation of unofficial offer made before launch of current mission, if confirmed, I accept. Got that communications?"  
  
"Yes sir! Drone loaded and ready for launch, all inserts inserted, appended data from sensors."  
  
"Launch. Tactical, what are the odds of the Ithkul seeing the probe?"  
  
"Slim sir. Assuming sensors roughly 10 times as sensitive as our own, 1% chance, assuming anything less they can't read it. It will almost be in the starlane by the time they arrive."  
  
"Good. Con, time to starlane?"  
  
"Two minutes sir."  
  
"Sensors, time to Ithkul arrival?"  
  
"Three sir."  
  
"Cut engines two and five, make it look like an overload. I want us to enter the starlane shortly after they arrive, without hanging around here one second longer than necessary. They have to see us retreat into the starlane or they can't follow us. Since they are so beam heavy, we should be able to stay out of range of their main guns."  
  
"Aye aye sir!"  
  
"Alright ladies and gentlemen. Stand by for combat. I doubt they'll try to engage, but they do have three missile launchers amongst them, so they may try to catch us despite the futility of the effort. Raise shields, bring point defense on line. Configure the laser cluster for point defense mode. Sensors, countdown."  
  
"One minute. Half a minute. 10 Seconds. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1... Emergence! All sensor reading confirmed sir! Three leviathans, and their shields are up and weapons hot, just as long range scans indicated! They've detected us sir! Reading missile fire! Transferring missile trajectories to tactical."  
  
"Return fire! All missile batteries, open fire!"  
  
"Time to starlane 30 seconds!"  
  
"Point defense engaging missiles! First volley wiped out. Second volley incoming. Targeting. One missile broke through point defense screen! Some kind of new ECM! Third volley launched, bird from second inbound! I can't stop her captain! PD not able to engage!"  
  
"Con, bring us about long enough to give us a broadside on that bird."  
  
"Bringing broadside PD to bear... bird survived looks like it was shielded. Impact in 5, 4-"  
  
"All hands, brace for impact!"  
  
The Ajax shuddered under the impact, as though some god had hit her.  
  
"Shields down! Failure on engines 1, 3, and 4! Direct hit on laser cluster 3... looks like Apoc's entire cluster was wiped out. Time to wormhole 30 seconds! Shall I bring engines 2 and 5 back online?"  
  
"Negative! We don't want them to realize we are leading them!"  
  
"Third flight incoming sir! Two of them are of the super bird! Impact in roughly 25 seconds!"  
  
"Oh hell! Fire missiles between enemy birds and us, configure to blind enemy birds or interfere with their engines. Bring us about and fire when ready."  
  
"Weapons away! Detonation... the super birds lost lock for a few seconds captain!"  
  
"Wormhole in..."  
  
Simultaneously "Impact in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, impact!"  
  
The ship shook again, but his time with the effect of the starlane. Pure Hell-fire licked the rear of the ship as the incoming missiles proximity fused warheads detonated, but the wormhole sucked the ship in faster than the speed of light, whereas the missile-fire, being outside the starlane interface's power, moved at the speed of light. They had survived... for now. 


	2. Part 2

Part 2:  
  
The damage was severe, however, and they may or may not reach the other end of the starlane. Inside, the crew franticly rushed to make repairs, but slowed down with relief as they realized that they were safe. Hours later, the damage control chief had a damage estimate.  
  
"How bad is it?" Captain Kane asked. He knew that the chief was going to detail everything, more because the chief wanted to be certain he got everything than he didn't trust his captain to make the right connections. He watched impassively as bodies were carted out of Apoc's laser cluster, noting the circuitry that had overloaded and blown out of its compartment. The smell of ozone hung in the air, as well as the sewer smell that death brings to all.  
  
"Bad sir. Our shields are gone, power systems are shot, and engines 1, 3, and 4 are beyond repair. Number six is almost as bad, and hyper is semi- operational. Once we hit the other end of the star lane, we won't be leaving for a day, maybe two. Which is fine, since that star system's starlanes aren't right next door to one another." The chief's voice was impassive, but could take that for disinterest. He knew how to delay his grief until later, to save lives and material.  
  
"Alright. How are our weapons?"  
  
"Luckily the missiles run off of an independent power grid, to reduce collateral damage if one of them produces an EMP blast. We have missile tubes 1-9, and 10 should be back up shortly. Unfortunately, the laser cluster is a complete loss. The armor structure held, but somehow the missile conducted its radiation through the armor. The entire system is fried, which killed everyone in the compartment, and the radiation fried the nearby power grid. That's what actually damaged us, the laser cluster is to close to one of the main reactors, and the radiation managed to overload the reactor. When the reactor overloaded, it dumped it all out into the engine power grid. We're lucky at that, it should have dumped into the main power grid, and if it had done that sensors would have been cut. Normally we'd just patch them back in on independent, but the radiation seems to short-circuit just about everything it touches. I don't know how the hyper drive survived. Engine 6 survived only because it was on a separate circuit."  
  
"Back up-the explosion didn't hurt us?"  
  
"No sir, that's the oddest thing. The missile didn't actually do all that much damage to us directly. I'd say it was configured to disable us. The follow up missiles, on the other hand, were definatly meant to destroy us. In the process of damage assessment, I noticed the radiation scarring on the rear of the ship. They were very nasty explosives. If they had registered a hit on us, we'd be dead, shields or no shields."  
  
"I wonder why they fired the destructive missiles after a disabler..."  
  
"I might be-"  
  
At first Captain Kane was frozen stiff in shock at hearing that arrogant voice then he got angry, and yelled, chopping the words into syllables, "KIRK! I SENT YOU TO THE LASER CLUSTER! EVERYONE IN THAT COMPARTMENT DIED!" Having worked into it, he now bellowed out in a rapid clip, "HOW THE HELL DID YOU SURVIVE YOU MANGY, INCOMPETENT, LUCKY-ASSED SOB!!! EVERYONE IN THAT COMPARTMENT DIED! THEY ONLY WAY YOU COULD-" the captain paused for a moment, as though thinking something through. Commander Kirk was up against the wall, pale, and with eyes wide open at the enraged beast before him. He'd known the captain hated him, but he never knew how much. He was suddenly very glad that he had inserted those orders "from the first admiral" into the briefing data stream... after all, if the captain hated him this much, how much harder would life have been without the orders he'd made to "keep your temper, and act as if you didn't know what he did." He started to open his mouth, but Kane beat him to it. His voice was soft, but very hard. Worse yet, he was smiling a cold, hard smile. He went through slowly, leading all around him through his thought process, as he went down it again to find any errors. "The only way you could have survived is if you weren't in the laser cluster. I knew Apoc; he wouldn't have let you leave. I specifically briefed all the appropriate officers. Should I send you to them when we were at battle stations, they were to keep an eye on you, and not let you out of their sight. So, either he disobeyed orders, or you did. You were to go straight to the laser cluster, and stay there. You obviously didn't get there. There was more than enough time for you to do so. Therefore, you chose not to do so. You didn't follow an order. You disobeyed a legal, though unusual, order, and in a combat condition, that is a court-martial offense. And since it HAD to be through cowardice, and it was in effect desertion in the face of the enemy... it looks like you finally gave me the excuse to shoot you."  
  
"You can't do that!"  
  
"Yes, I can. And I will take a great deal of-" The ship shook, as though someone had activated-or deactivated-the engines. Just a slight tremor, but inside of a starlane, anything like that would be major. Even worse, everyone felt it as something shifted - the same something that shifted when entering or exiting a starlane. "What the he-"  
  
"Captain to the bridge! Captain to the bridge! Hyperdrive failure!"  
  
"Bloody hell!" The captain knew what that meant. Either get the hyperdrive back online, or watch as the intense gravitational forces inside the starlane shoved them out the other end. Since FTL travel was possible inside, but not outside, it was very important to have a hyperfield online when you left. Without it, part of your ship would be FTL, the other wouldn't. And that would mean very nasty things as the ship either rammed itself or was pulled apart. "Kirk, report to the brig. You two!" He pointed at the two largest men on a nearby damage control team "Pick out 2 others each, and escort the commander to the brig. The regs require I order him there because his honor as an officer should be sufficient bond, but they don't say anything about insurance policies. You may use whatever means are necessary. If he resists, you can do whatever necessary to subdue him, but I expect him there alive." Kane left for the bridge, and smiled. Kirk swallowed at the unholy glee the two men's eyes showed at the implied opportunity to manhandle him, and the four others they picked out shared the gleam. They knew this smug bastard from prior encounters-a prime reason why rank alone did not guarantee competence.  
  
On the bridge, everyone was scared witless, knowing what the damage to the hyperdrive meant. "Alright people, I want options." Everyone looked at each other, scared to tell him the truth. They were clueless as to how to solve this problem. Then one of them spoke up.  
  
"Captain, did we launch the x-6 missile?" Ensign Hernan, who nearly hadn't made it out of the academy because she assume a superior with a different specialty didn't know anything about hers, asked.  
  
"The mark 6X? The experimental hyperdrive missile? Assistant Tactical Officer?"  
  
"Correct sir, and no, we didn't launch her. She was placed in the forward tubes, and we couldn't shift her to any other tubes-she's too big." The Assistant Tactical Officer replied.  
  
"Well then, Ensign Hernan, your idea?"  
  
"The Mark 6X uses a new engine that lets her create a small hyperfield drive inside normal space." From the tone of her voice, Kane could tell she was ready to start in on her idea, detailing every little detail to ensure his proper understanding of it. Her habit of calming down so swiftly was one of the few reasons she made it through the academy. Officers that could go from all out fighting to talking as if nothing had happened were rare, and their ability to think clearly valued. "Only, instead of creating a pocket of normal space inside otherspace, it creates a pocket of otherspace inside normal space. The only reason we can't use it for ships is the intense radiation, though the power supply is problematical. However, if we so choose, we COULD hook the missile up directly to our power grid. By redirecting power to the internal shielding fields, we should be able to block the radiation temporarily. Since we'll only have to run the missile's drive for a nanosecond or two, we can provide the power easy, and it would take longer than that to burn the engine out. The main problem is timing- we'd have to be accurate to the millionth of a second, or the field won't be up while we're crossing the threshold. Its better than trying to repair the hyperdrive, since we don't know if we can in time, and even if we could we'd face a worse timing problem. Remember, the hyperspace engine needs at least a little real space to create the appropriate pocket."  
  
Captain Kane thought about it, and gave the go ahead. "With any luck, it might work. And if it does... we'd have the back-up drives for small craft that we've been after for forever. Con, ETA to Yevon System?"  
  
"Two months."  
  
"Just enough time for a court-martial, I'd say." 


	3. Part 3

Part 3:  
  
The courtroom was a large room for a battleship, and normally served as the mess hall. Today the kitchen had been closed temporarily, and the normal tables stripped out. On the dais was a series of desks, set side-by side to form one large desk. Behind them sat the nine members of the court, with the president of the court in the center. The president was a lieutenant commander on other days, but today she was the president of the court. With that title came rights and responsibilities. Some of those rights were ones an admiral would kill for, and some of the responsibilities were so harsh that all hated them-and most refused them. By military law until she was done the president was nameless. She was faceless, and until she had reached a verdict she had no opinion. She began the opening ceremonies, using the script prepared for her by law.  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen, this field court martial is now in session. As we are at a state of effective war, as defined by Article 5442 of the Naval Regulations, we have all powers normally assigned such a court during a time of war. The purpose of this court martial is to evaluate the evidence against one Commander A.S." The president started to giggle and turned it into a cough, as she realized what she was spelling out. It didn't help that calling him an ass was accurate, either. "Excuse me. Commander Alfred Simon Samuel Kirk. Born during the month of Yeval, day twelve, 112 AL by local reckoning. Stardate 433654.12.01 as commonly reckoned, on the planet Yevon IV. Joined service stardate 433668.12.01, as soon as eligible to join the academy, graduated 12,495 in his class out of 12,495. Requested and received commission as a star fighter pilot, first assignment anti-piracy patrols in the Centauri system. Received commendation for capture of an enemy spy, as well as the Scarlet Ribbon for the quality of his judgment during these actions. Promotion out of the zone followed, bumping him to lieutenant commander. Promotion to commander also followed shortly thereafter. Commander Kirk has been assigned only to the Potemkin, a Heavy System Carrier in Centauri system, CO Captain Blackjack, and Orbital Space Yard One, New Earth, CO Commander Kane. The court notes the irregularity of the situation that has placed Captain Kane in direct command of the accused not once, but three times, as he was the flight operations officer in charge of the squadron the accused commanded. Does the record read accurately describe your career to date, Commander Kirk?"  
  
Pale faced, Commander Kirk had to swallow three times before he could speak. "Yes, it does."  
  
"Excuse me commander?" snapped Captain Kane.  
  
Before Kirk could respond, the President of the Court swiftly leaped up, snapped her head to face Kane, and snapped at him, voice filled with authority, and her eyes with surprise at her own daring. This was an action she normally wouldn't dream of, but her responsibilities in this matter were clear. "You may not interrupt the commander, the accused alone may say whether or not the record is accurate. You are not allowed to interfere, either as captain of this vessel or the officer bringing charges. His speech, while technically irregular, is excused due to the severity of the charges! Attempts to interfere in this court are a court- martial offense, and you will be charged! Do I make myself clear...sir?" The captain didn't miss the pause, or the threat, but barged on despite both. She was senior to him-for the moment-and she could charge him, but he had his duty.  
  
"I refer the court to secured file CDFS3666EKIRK-"  
  
"No!" Commander Kirk shouted, jumping to his feet, knowing exactly what that was, but the Captain continued.  
  
"Centauri (system) Discipline File Secured, number 3666, Ensign Kirk. Unlock code 'enigma'." Kane looked at Kirk, with a smile almost showing on his lips.  
  
"The court will examine the file publicly, despite the outburst of the accused." The president sounded thoughtful, as she had never heard of "discipline file secured" as a file designator.  
  
"I must ask the court to reconsider that decision." Kane now sounded perfectly calm, and neutral.  
  
"The court will hear the request."  
  
"Due to the secure nature of the contents, I request that the court hold a closed session, consisting only of itself, the accused, and those that already know of its contents."  
  
"Such as yourself?"  
  
"Yes...ma'am."  
  
"Your request will be considered. Do my fellow board members wish to discuss?" A silence followed. "Then we shall vote. Do any dissuade?" Another silence. "Then we shall adopt this measure by acclamation. Corporal of the Guard, clear the room. We shall recess for one half of an hour while you clear the room of non-cleared personnel and do a security sweep. Will you have sufficient time?"  
  
The grizzled, large noncom looked around, and promptly replied, "It will take my teams 15 minutes to clear the room, but a thorough security scan will take about one and a half hours. A mid level scan could be done in 15 minutes and still meet your deadline, but I couldn't guarantee the secure room required by regulations for the viewing of secured material."  
  
"The court shall recess for two hours. This court is now in recess."  
  
The corporal's men swiftly began motioning for everyone to leave, first the observers in the very rear of the room, then the witnesses, then the people in the forefront of the room, finally followed by the court members except for the president, who would remain behind her desk until court was adjourned for the night, and would return immediately after her sleep. She ate in the courtroom, and could use only the head just past the hatchway behind the dais. Her responsibility didn't include insuring the security of the room, only to insure the ability of the guards to do so. Soon they were done, exactly on time. The Corporal, who's position during the trial was similar to hers, motioned his men to leave, telling them to rest while they could. He took up position at the only unsealed door, and waited. Soon, he allowed in the board members, the accused, and Kane. No others were allowed in, not even his security team. He drew his weapon and approached the middle of the floor. 


	4. Part 4

Part 4:  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen, this closed field court martial is now in session. As we are at a state of effective war, as defined by Article 5442, we have all powers normally assigned such a court during a time of war. The purpose of this meeting of the court martial is to evaluate a file containing data concerning Commander Alfred Simon Samuel Kirk, prior to reopening the open session and the subsequent debates. Commander Kirk, are you aware of the contents of the file?"  
  
"No ma'am." Kirk looked pale, and worried. "I have not been given a chance to peruse it to my satisfaction, as it has remained closed to me, despite the unlock code"  
  
"If it would please the court, I can explain that." Captain Kane interjected.  
  
"It would."  
  
"The purpose of the file I have detailed to you is to provide you with an accurate summary of the events that happened in the Centauri system. Due to the nature of the events involved, we could not put the truth in a public file, and since portions of military service reports are available to the public, they have to conform to the official truths involved. Because-"  
  
"Are you going to get to the point anytime soon, captain?"  
  
"Yes ma'am. Because of that, some judgments, such as the one the court martial is asked to levy against Commander Kirk, could be rendered inaccurate. Thus, secure files are sent along with the person in question, so that they are available for consideration in important cases. Specifically, they are meant to provide the court with the reasons they should disregard 'character evidence' based of off those events. Since the accused will never need to have access of them, as he already knows the contents, he is not granted access under any circumstances as a safeguard against corruption. This measure is primarily meant to cover sealed discipline logs, wherein the true record shows evidence of the persons error-usually extreme. If you look inside the secure court martial info database, you will note that this is mentioned under article 14 by 45 by 6. Inside, is also detailed the prisoner's duty to reveal the fact that these files exist to any court martial that is called against him."  
  
"Article 14 and its sections deal with petty theft discovered by secure means. And there IS no section 14 by 45." The court president paused as one of her fellow court members whispered in her ear. "Correction. While there is no article 14 by 45 by 1 through 5, there is in fact an article 14 by 45 by 6. Presumably this is a security measure to protect this, um, manner of securing secure information in a retrievable manner. The clause referring to the prisoner's duty is also in there, and I see that is as specific as the clauses describing the opening ceremonies of a court martial. The penalty for failing to reveal them is quite harsh-life in prison. Well, I see no reason to delay deliberations any longer. Captain Kane, as you are already aware of these files and their contents, you will open."  
  
"Thank you your honor. I will begin with the event in the Centauri system. When we completed a security sweep, I decided to allow the fighter squadrons a liberty at the nearby..."  
  
Commander Kirk, as pale faced as earlier, gulped down several glasses of water during the course of the narration. He knew what was coming, and if he couldn't get some way of getting this evidence disqualified, he was going to lose, and lose badly. The members of the court glanced at him from time to time, and Kirk knew he had to stop looking so nervous, but it wasn't like he could just stop sweating! Or get blood to his face or anything like that! I'm not a, a, a, Darlock! He snarled mentally at the mention of Darlocks.  
  
"Several of his wing-mates testified that he acknowledged that I had put the bar off-limits for security reasons," Captain Kane continued. "And yet he chose to enter anyway. He enjoyed the bar's unusual entertainments, such as..."  
  
Damn him! Damn Kane to Hell! He was going to bring the whole thing up out of the trash, wasn't he? Kirk thought. So what if I gambled, so what if I liked the dancers there... so what if I wanted something more than just looking? They were willing... mostly. And I paid them well, even when they weren't willing!  
  
"However, normally he managed to avoid letting these indiscretions interfere with his duty. This time, however, he failed in that. He consumed enough alcohol to render him inebriated, and then proceeded to gamble away his most recent paycheck. He then attempted to hire one of the dancers for some more private entertainment, and when she refused his offers, tried to drag her to his pre-rented room. Then, one of his 'drinking partners,' a Thomas Midarenkov, decided to help him by paying the rest of the money necessary to make the girl cooperative. Thomas asked only that Kirk help him a little latter. Kirk agreed, and had his fun. When he woke up the next morning, Thomas said he wanted a tour of Kirk's ship. Kirk agreed. Kirk took him..."  
  
He doesn't have to make it sound like I was so wrong... the girl wanted stuff like that, or why would she have become an exotic dancer in a place everyone knew hired dancers that were also whores! And I'm good! She wanted me! All off them wanted me! They wanted me so bad they raised the prices for me, so that I'd be forced to pick one and marry her if I wanted her regularly! Like I'd ever marry anyone like them! Kirk babbled on inside his head, unaware of the piteous falsehoods he wove.  
  
"Having shown 'Thomas' all the non-secure areas aboard ship, Kirk allowed himself to be convinced to show 'Thomas' into a secure area, namely combat central."  
  
Combat central. Big deal! It's only the nerve center of the ship, during a fight! He couldn't have hurt anything there, and how was I supposed to know he could download our entire secure database from there?  
  
"While leading 'Thomas' off the ship, Kirk showed the only piece of common sense he displayed in the entire affair. He asked 'Thomas' to hold for a minute. He asked 'Thomas' why he wanted to see the ship. At this point, the security squad that had been tracking down a Darlock by the name of Bodoso'ch came along. 'Thomas' was distracted by the questioning of Kirk, and allowed his eyes to momentarily shift spectrum. and one of the squad realized what he was."  
  
"Captain, what do you mean his eyes shifted spectrum?" A board member asked.  
  
"In essence, they began to glow. The squad searching for the Darlock proceeded to try and trap him, but Bodoso'ch, who was masquerading as Thomas, ran. They were unable to catch him before he hit the public part of the station. However, Kirk managed to engage him after they were in the main Promenade. While the Darlock should have been able to escape, it turns out that the small amounts of alcohol remaining in Kirks breath were sufficient to intoxicate the Darlock-the first clue anyone had to their extreme vulnerability to alcohol."  
  
So I saved the day! Why did everyone want to punish me afterwards? It's not like he got away with those command codes! And even if he did, we would have changed them long before those pirates that attacked could have used them to lower our shields or cut weapons. Kirk thought to himself.  
  
"As the security team had gained control over the Darlock, Kirk found himself face to face with several news-camera's. In a quick decision, he made an unapproved statement that managed to get onto the interplanetary datanets before we could stop it. He stated that..."  
  
Yeah, so I told them that it was a counter-intelligence operation? It worked! They never realized that our security was breached, hell, they were convinced that I was a hero! They believed that everyone else had screwed up. Why did you have to mess it up for me! I could have become a captain by now! Maybe even an admiral if I'd played my cards right! Kirk then proceeded to invent new and interesting ways to swear-though he kept them to himself, in his head.  
  
"Because of his publicity, we were forced to commend him on his "heroic" actions, rather than embarrass ourselves by admitting that he had bypassed security so easily. We officially rewarded him, but we placed this secure file into his dossier. It was once hoped that he might reform-but it would seem that won't happen. We never did manage to figure out who Bodoso'ch worked for-he died before he could tell us anything other than his name."  
  
"Thank you Captain Kane for your briefing. Assuming no objections, I preliminarily sentence Commander Kirk to dishonorable discharge first degree, carrying life in prison sentence. Do any of the members of the board disagree?" No one spoke up. "I assume we are unanimous then, and sentence Kirk to life in prison and a dishonorable discharge first degree. We will recess for thirty minutes for the board to discuss the nature of the presented material, and then resume open discussion of the official charges. As president, I believe that the evidence here presented more than annuls the possibility of considering anything other than cowardice and desertion in the face of the enemy, and anticipate a death sentence. We are now recessed for discussion." She pressed an inter-com button, "Corporal of the guard, clear the chambers." The blast-door hatchway swung open, and the marines swiftly cleared the room for the deliberations of the board.  
  
Interlude:  
  
"Sir, high command wishes to speak with you about the ship that we intercepted."  
  
"I'll take it in the briefing room." A few minutes later: "I'm sorry Admiral, but we failed to prevent their escape, and we failed to prevent them getting a message off. Bodoso'ch was right, this Captain Kane is a very dangerous man. Very dangerous-he not only managed to get his ship out of here, he also managed to warn his government ahead of time! Since he's retreated into the starlane towards Yevon, we will have to follow in order to take him out. And if our informants are correct, he will soon be promoted to admiral, and become an even greater threat. However, last we heard Kirk was still alive, and able to engage in more sabotage. We may yet have Kane in our feeding chambers. Please, give me the reinforcements necessary to track down Kane, and I'll take him down."  
  
A pause, and the clacking of the Ithkul High Admiral came in: "You can have Invasion Fleet's taskforces. Defense Fleet will take up station in the Braska system and prevent it from falling to any counter-attack. Our sources have insured that any counter attack will be light, and pitiful anyways..." 


	5. Part 5

Part 5:  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen, this field court martial is now in session. As we are at a state of effective war, as defined by Article 5442, we have all powers normally assigned such a court during a time of war. The purpose of this court martial is to resume evaluating evidence against the previously introduced charges against Commander Alfred Simon Samuel Kirk. Has the accused been read the nature of the charges, your rights, and the punishments laid out by regulations?" The President of the Court intoned.  
  
"Yes ma'am, I am." Kirk replied.  
  
"Then we shall proceed. Captain Kane, as the officer bringing these charges to bear, please enumerate them for the court."  
  
"Yes ma'am." Kane stood up and walked to the center podium. Holo recorders refocused on his new position, and he prepared to speak. "I, Captain Kane, Commanding Officer of the Ajax, Hull number 0041, a CMSI, Laklannan class, hereby bring the following charges against my tactical and first officer, Commander Alfred Simon Samuel Kirk. Specification the First: He did knowingly, and willfully, engage in dereliction of duty. Specification the Second: He did knowingly, and willfully, disobey a direct order, in the face of an enemy under declared battle conditions. Specification the Third: That he did knowingly, and willingly, desert his post in the middle of combat. Specification the fourth: That specifications one, two, and three represent desertion in the face of the enemy. Specification the fifth: That all specifications result from cowardice, and represent a complete lack of moral fiber. Specification the sixth is secret, and may not be read. Judgment has already been passed on specification the sixth. As commanding officer I have ordered this Field Court Martial convened, and hereby-" a loud com signal interrupted him. He couldn't place it. Then, as he activated the inner-com, he recognized it and paused. It was the urgent data signal for court martials. He finished activating the inner-com, and asked, "What was so important you interrupted this court-martial?"  
  
"Engineer Tachaon reporting sir. I have additional charges for you to bring to bear. If I may provisionally bring supernumerary charges to bear for you?"  
  
"Get your ass up here right now and do so. As you interrupted during the reading of the charges, you may add them to the list in your own persona."  
  
"I-nuts. Aye aye sir! I'll be up ASAP-should I show up in dress or work uniform?"  
  
"President of the court?" Kane asked.  
  
"This court will accept that he was not aware that he would have to attend, and allow him work uniform to allow for the most swift presentation of additional charges."  
  
"You heard the woman! Move it!"  
  
"Yes sir!" The tech replied from the opening door.  
  
"That was fast. Take the podium and present your charges." Kane said.  
  
"I, Engineer First class, Lieutenant Senior Grade Frederick Tachaon, have discovered evidence to support supernumerary charges against the accused, one Commander Alfred Simon Samuel Kirk. Supernumerary specification the first: that he did knowingly, and willfully, sabotage the defe-  
  
"No! You can't!" Kirk screamed, rushing up with the obvious intent to beat Lieutenant Tachaon senseless. Several marines stood in his way, and one died under his flailing limbs in the effort to stop him. Several others were injured. Eventually, order was restored and Kirk placed under restraints in his seat, as well as being gagged when he refused to stop screaming, "He is a rotten liar! I did nothing of the sort!" The president of the court then ordered the resumption of the proceedings.  
  
"Resuming from where I left off. Supernumerary specification the first: that he did knowingly, and willfully, sabotage the defenses of this ship, a CMSI, Laklannan class, Terran Federation Ship Ajax. Supernumerary specification the second: that specification the first occurred near a combat situation, and affected the ships performance in said situation. Supernumerary specification the third: That said affect nearly caused the destruction or possibly capture, of the vessel he has sabotaged. Supernumerary specification the fourth, provisionally charged until external evidence can be examined: it is the belief of the officer bringing these charges to bear, based off of the technology used, the Commander Kirk did these things under the pay, orders, or with the aid, of a foreign government. I provisionally order this court martial to convene and judge the accused, presuming acceptance of the commanding officer, president of the court, and the officer bringing the original charges to bear. Captain Kane, may I do this?"  
  
"Yes, you may." Kane replied, aghast at the fact that Kirk wasn't just a slime ball, but a traitor as well.  
  
"President of the court, may I impose upon you in this manner?"  
  
"Yes, you may Lieutenant Tachaon." The president of the court replied.  
  
"Captain Kane, as you were the one bearing the original charges to bear, I ask you again: May I bring to bear the additional charges I have enumerated?"  
  
"As the president of the court accepts, and I have accepted as commanding officer, I as the officer bringing the original charges to bear accept."  
  
"President of the court, I return the floor to you."  
  
"Thank you Lieutenant Tachaon. As president of this court, I bring additional supernumerary charges to bear. Supernumerary specification the fifth: That during the reading of Lieutenant Tachaon's charges, the accused did attempt to assault Tachaon's person, and in the process killed one marine, Private Vork, and seriously injured Lieutenant Second class Bigpapaj. Supernumerary specification the sixth: That in the process of supernumerary specification the fifth, he did knowingly, and willingly, disturb this court, and cause a grave disorder. I add these charges as president of the court, and no additional authority is required. Members of the court, as the list of evidence has grown, I ask this: will any of you challenge my motion to shift these proceedings immediately to a debate over sentencing, as Commander Kirk has shown no respect for the court, and provided ample reason to believe several of the capital charges are in fact true?" Almost silence greeted her-Kirk was still trying to scream through his gag. "Members of the court, seeing as how we have all witnessed with our own eyes the murder of Private Vork, will any of you challenge a motion to consider him guilty?" Again, near silence. "Mr. Kirk, as you have insisted as acting as your own counsel, can you provide legal reason I can not do this?" Listening to Krik's now un-gagged screams of 'You can't do this!' she motioned to the marines to replace the gag. "I'll take that for a no. Members of the court, a final question. Will any of you challenge a motion to sentence him to death for that crime?" A deep silence, as Kirk stared with a pale face, and a jaw that would have been slack, as no one spoke. The silence had a feeling of finality, and he knew what was ending. "Guard! Bring the prisoner to the forefront!" the president of the court barked. They did so-and then had to hold him there, as he refused to stay. They were mortified that he was forcing them to-he kept on rubbing up against them, and since terror had loosened both his bladder and his sphincter, he wasn't pleasant to be near. "I, as president of this court," the president of the court began, "hereby sentence one former commander of this navy, former holder of the scarlet ribbon, former member of the academy, former member of the crew of the TFS Ajax, former member of the construction group at orbital space yard one, former member of the crew of the Potemkin, and former member of the officer corps of this fine navy, to death. He is stripped off all rank. He is stripped of all privileges. He is stripped of all rights. He is stripped of all awards. He is to be stripped of his life itself, as soon as possible. As the presiding officer of this court, I invoke the Scurrelli clause. Members of the board, under the Scurrelli clause we may, should we unanimously decide, cause the immediate execution of a member of the military who has been placed under the death sentence, without consultation of a higher authority than that aboard the ship. Do any of you object?" None of them answered, though several looked uncomfortable. One opened his mouth then seemed to think better of it, and shut it. "Do any of you wish time to consider this?" One by one they all answered no, though they did not like this responsibility, they felt their duty to be clear. "Then as president of this court, I hereby schedule execution to occur this evening, and 1900 hours, directly after officer mess. All hands will attend, save those needed for standing watch, the repair crews required to insure the survival of this ship, and those whom are medically excused. I declare this court- martial ended, and I am again Lieutenant Commander Susan Scully. Corporal of the Guard, you are relieved and may resume position as commander of this ship's marine force."  
  
"Court dismissed." Kane uttered.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Later that evening:  
  
"Ah-ten, HUT!" Major Captain McGuillity, chief of the marines on board-and the executioner, bellowed. The officers and crew were in dress formation, and dress uniform, in the mess hall. It had been cleared of all tables and chairs, and the kitchen sealed off. Even with it cleared, there was not enough room in the mess hall, so everyone was standing shoulder-to shoulder, save a very few. Where the dais was for the nights were there was entertainment, an ugly looking set of poles had been set up. Two were vertical, several feet apart, and one was horizontal, lifted of the deck by the other two. At the points where the horizontal pole was attached was a set of loop eyes-large enough for a thick rope. In between the two poles was another eye loop, temporarily fused to the deck.  
  
Captain Kane waited just outside, angered by what he had learned. That bastard had sabotaged his ship! He had deliberately set the shield frequency to one vulnerable to the enemy missile's radiation pulse. He'd almost certainly given the enemy the data to know where to target it, and it looked like he was the one that set it up to disable the engines. The only good news was that the technology he did it with, while it had parts far in advance of anything the Terran Federation currently had, the other parts were extremely crude in comparison to the Terran Federation's.  
  
"This is an execution, ordered by the field court martial held today under the authority of the Scurrelli clause. All of you are assembled both as witnesses for legal purposes, and to see the fate that awaits traitors, and other capitol level criminals. Stand at ease." Major McGuillity then proceeded to explain the situation leading up to the court martial, the events of the court martial, and the decision of the court martial. "Presiding over the execution will be Captain Kane."  
  
That's my cue, thought Captain Kane, time to execute Kirk. I've never had to do this before. I never dreamed it would be necessary before. Killing people in ship-to-ship combat was hard, but I'd thought this would be the same. Somehow, it isn't. As much as I want him dead, I don't want to have to do this. He walked into the mess hall.  
  
"ATTENTION ON DECK!" Bellowed the ships Bosun as the captain walked in. He normally wouldn't have had it, but this was a special ceremony, and it wasn't to outline his power, but the Captain's responsibilities.  
  
"Bring in the prisoner!" The Captain said. Kane knew he couldn't do it, not like this, but the Captain, his official persona, could. And would. Alfred Kirk was brought in, in full dress uniform. The doctors had been busy, they'd sealed up his bladder, and sphincter to prevent him from befouling himself-again-and cut his vocal cords so he couldn't scream. "Bring him to the scaffold!" Kirk was manhandled by the marines flanking him, two of them, up to the dais. Two more grabbed his arms, and pulled them out. The two that had marched him in grabbed his legs, and forced him to stand in the scaffold. "Major Yethic, Major Neliz, bind the prisoner to the scaffold!" They weren't majors, merely Marine Captains given a courtesy promotion to avoid conflicting with that exalted rank that only the skipper of a vessel could hold. They marched forward from their units, faced towards the dais, and marched up to the scaffold in perfect step. They took the ropes from behind the scaffolding, and then tied Kirk's legs together. They then tied the robe binding his legs to the loop in the floor. Finally, they each took on arm, and tied it to the loops at the upper corners of the box formed by the scaffolding. When they were done, Kirk was standing, arms held above the horizontal by the rope. The rope was taught enough that he couldn't move at all, and even if he relaxed he was still held in that position.  
  
The Captain looked, and found it good. "Roll in the backdrop!" He ordered. Several marines rolled in the specially constructed armor plate. Until now, it had never been touched by weapons fire. Soon, it would be. They rolled it up to the dais, and then rolled it up the ramp at the rear of the dais. They placed it directly behind Kirk, not even looking at him. He was a piece of carrion to them now. "Major McGuillity! The prisoner is yours! Do as you will." The Captain barked the first two sentences, but Kane came through a little on the third, making it softer, more sad. Major McGuillity saluted, and then marched forward, halted, and right faced. He was twenty paces from the prisoner, and directly in front of him. "Alfred Simon Samuel Kirk, you have been sentenced to death. Private Matt! My side arm!" The indicated private marched forward, and handed the disrupter to him.  
  
Padre, the ships chaplain, began intoning the rituals of Kirks faith. "Oh Lord God in heaven, forgive us, for we send off one of your own to your enemy. He has violated our laws beyond our ability to forgive, and dies outside a state of your grace. Patra selindra torkan, seledra rosstin Satan. Kor el vemas tre so gola meda to fortina, le doraga tentra." The last part translates, roughly, as Great beast Satan we give him to you. He is evil, and may strengthen you, but he is your spawn. Then, the universal refrain. "May god have mercy on your soul."  
  
"Amen." The ships company replied.  
  
"Crew: About-Face!" Major McGuillity bellowed. All the enlisted members faced away from Kirk, and the officers faced him. Major McGuillity raised his arm. A scorch mark appeared on the armor plating behind Kirk's chest, and his arms started to jerk, and then relaxed permanently. His head fell, and a nearby marine closed his eyes, which had been as round as saucers. All the officers and crew marched out, except for the captain and four marine privates, on their first tour from boot camp. The captain nodded and they cut down the body, and carried it to a nearby airlock. They couldn't eject it yet, but as soon as they hit normal space it would be.  
  
Assuming they survived the transit into normal space.  
  
Interlude:  
  
A large force arrayed itself by the wormhole, with more pouring through by the second. A force lead by the three ships that first entered this space. They formed up, and headed towards the starlane their prey had taken... 


	6. Part 6

Part 6:  
  
"Alright Captain. We're as ready as we can get. I've removed the technology that Com-" Lieutenant Commander Tachaon began, but turned into a hasty cough. "Excuse me. I've removed the technology that the traitor put into the shield grid and engine arrays. The mark 6X hyperdrive has been modified, and is ready to engage. I've done the math, with my entire department looking over my shoulder, and the computer agrees with it. I've quadruple checked all the connections, the programming, and the modifications to the warhead. I've done everything but do a test run, since that would burn out the engine beyond our ability to repair it with onboard supplies. I've removed the warhead component from the chassis just incase I missed some kind of connection between the two, and dissembled it. It shouldn't be possible for it to detonate. All we can do now, is wait."  
  
"Very well Lieutenant Tac-er, Lieutenant Commander Tachaon. Sorry, forgot that I gave you your promotion. Tell me, did you really offer to take all four of them to bed with you?" Kane grinned a big grin, knowing that Tachaon hated it when he brought up the party. The captain had officially rescinded the normal restrictions and allowed Tachaon and his friends to drink to extreme excess, and excused them from the duty roster afterwards.  
  
"Please Captain, I was drunk as a skunk, can't everyone just forget about my party?" Tachaon grinned just as much. They'd done this several times already, and were becoming fast friends.  
  
"Come now! I hear they took it quite well-especially since they invited their friends to join the private party!"  
  
"Captain, PLEASE, we were ALL drunk!"  
  
"Yes, I imagine that's why McGuillity was so willing to help out with the overflow. Tell me, how did you manage that many in one night?" Normally the conversation stopped there, but Tachaon had come up with a new reply that would let it continue a little longer.  
  
"One at a time. Just one at a time." Kane froze as he realized that the ball was back in his court, and returned the sally.  
  
"One at a time, huh. Lets see, at about... call it ten seconds each, that would have taken you several hours last I heard!"  
  
"Captain, there's not that many people on the entire ship, let alone that many women. Or more importantly, women who can't resist my devilish charm!"  
  
"It seemed like none of them could resist... and I would have thought all could. But lets save this for later, it is time for us to report to the bridge. You first." Kane gestured at the door.  
  
"Aye aye sir!"  
  
* * * * * * *  
  
"Stand by! Starlane interface in five minutes! All hands, stand by!" Captain Kane glanced at his new first officer, Tachaon, as he placed the warning over the intercom. They were a FAR more effective team, even if Tachaon had trouble commanding his department from the bridge. Captain Kane decided he preferred the switch. "Forward weapons control, your status?" Tachaon began to go down the checklist, checking that every station was ready. He didn't skip a single item, excluding forward weapons bay 1, where the new missile was laid out. Due to the radiation, there wasn't anyone in that compartment to answer anyway. Tachaon was soon finished. "Captain, all stations are as ready as possible. Some stations are not at optimal capacity due to taken during combat, but all are at best current capacity. Time to interface: one and a half minutes. Your orders?"  
  
"Transfer engine control to the computer. Place me on intercom."  
  
"Aye aye sir!"  
  
"This the captain speaking. All hands, this is the captain speaking. We are about to try the impossible. No ship has ever managed to survive a starlane transition with all of its hyperdrives off line, but we are going to try. Ladies and gentlemen, this is quite possibly the most important breakthrough of the decade. If we succeed, we may well have smaller craft capable of interstellar travel than have been seen in any navy since pre- Antaran days. Excluding, of course, the New Orion's fleets. Do your best. Time to wormhole is 30 seconds. Do your duty. That is all."  
  
"15 seconds to interface!" the con officer cried out. "Stand by on engines!"  
  
"Standing by! Engines are running hot, ready to engage immediately after starlane exit!"  
  
"Computer! Initiate countdown!"  
  
"5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0." The computer's monotone voice chanted.  
  
Outside, a burst of light and coherent gravitation opened a crack in space- time leading to otherspace, and a ship slipped through, carrying a small portion of otherspace with it.  
  
On the bridge, all was silent. They hadn't even felt the shiver that always occurred when exiting or entering hyperspace. There was just silence. "Did we make it?" a nervous rating asked.  
  
Captain Kane activated the intercom. "Ladies and gentlemen, it has been brought to my attention that a few of you are wondering if we survived. Judging by the fact that I have the Yevon colony on the forward view screen and I am talking to you, I would say that we did indeed survive the transition. We will begin an immediate emergency approach to the Yevon colony to check on their evacuation status and receive emergency repairs at the star base. It is my decision that all crew will be granted liberty there as soon as possible, assuming that the station has not yet been abandoned. There will be a survival party at ship's expense, as usual. Captain out."  
  
They had made it. Captain Kane smiled, realizing that he may soon be enjoying a very different position. The response to his query should be available. He wondered if the offer was still open.  
  
Interlude:  
  
The ships soared through the starlane, at speeds no mind could encompass, and yet they could tell they weren't moving as swiftly as their prey. Already he had made it out of the far side, one full of its years before they could reach it. 


	7. Part 7

Part 7:  
  
The ship's bridge was semi relaxed. All the officers bent over their consoles, laboriously working on them, but the relaxation of having survived almost certain death still infected them. They were jubilant that they had made it through, but worried. Sensors were still suffering jump disorientation, but it seemed that the system hadn't been evacuated. Scans down the starlane indicated that the Ithkul were coming, but their ETA was uncertain.  
  
"Captain, I think I have the Ithkul's ETA fixed, but it doesn't make sense."  
  
Kane swiveled his chair around, and looked at Goodridge with his head bent sideways, interrogatively. "Why?"  
  
"Well sir, if I didn't know better, I'd say that their technology was almost a century behind our own, with barely second generation hyperdrives. It is the only way to explain their speed, but that's way to primitive for their demonstrated tech base."  
  
"What do you mean." Kane's voice clearly stated that he didn't want any more hedging. He wanted his officer's opinion, now.  
  
"They won't be here for a year. That means that their relative speed is only about 10C."  
  
"10C? A YEAR?" Kane's voice took on an edge, as he absorbed that shocking fact, but his face retained the impassive look that a captain had to show to his subordinates.  
  
"Yes sir. But their transit time down the wormhole was only minutes! That seems to suggest that the wormhole is not only longer, but much, MUCH faster than a starlane. I'd assumed it was faster by a factor of a hundred, maximum, but I'd say it's much greater than that."  
  
"How much higher?" Kane's voice was softer now, probing for information. His face remained impassive, but Lieutenant Goodridge's face shifted, and looked uncomfortable, as though the information he was presenting was disturbing to him.  
  
"Captain, there is no comparison. Its like trying to compare sub-light travel to modern starlane travel, the difference is just too great. Many millions off times faster, that's all I can say. I'd have to do a direct analysis of the wormhole to find out, and the only way to do that is by flying a ship through it."  
  
"You'll get that chance, if I have any say in it." Kane's voice was softer, but rougher, as though there was something he was hoping for, and yet dreading.  
  
"Captain?" Tachaon said softly, leaning in his chair towards his captain, wondering what he meant.  
  
"I suspect you'll see. I do believe you will see shortly." Kane's voice was inscrutable, and obviously meant to kill the conversation.  
  
The communication officer's console gave the shrill, high-pitched cry of a case Zulu message. A war message, which was never sent in drill, sent to warn all ships that the Terran Federation had officially declared itself at war. Everyone on board swiftly snapped to the com console. They all knew that strident keen would be playing across their entire ship, as it had almost certainly played across countless ships already. The communication officer quickly silenced it in the only way the computer's programming allowed. The ceremonial words of a war declaration rolled across the ship.  
  
"All hands of all vessels in the Terran Federation, may I please have your attention. I repeat, may I please have your attention." The strong soprano of the one voice everyone on board every ship would recognize filled the ship. "I am President Neliz. As off stardate 433685.10.05, we are now at war. I repeat, we are now officially at war." Her voice took on a determined air, knowing exactly what she was saying. Knowing the pain she had just brought her subordinates, her people, and her navy as only one who had been in war could. "The War Resolution was passed by congress just prior to the recording of this message. It reads as follows:"  
  
"'Whereas our territories have been unjustly attacked without provocation; whereas ships of this great federation have been attacked and damaged, and nearly destroyed with no provocation or warning; whereas such attacks constitute a direct threat to this Federation; whereas moreover those attacks were made with no warning of any kind, in direct violation of the Orion Conventions which lay down the laws off interstellar warfare; whereas, and most importantly, these acts have taken the lives of many of our loyal sailors; therefore we, the lawfully elected Congress have by a 1/2 vote of the house of inherited dignitaries, a 1/2 vote of the senate, and a 1/2 vote of the house of representatives declared that a state of war has existed since the beginning of this attack; moreover we declare that the president of this union now has the full powers of her office plus the war powers customarily granted during times of war and extreme crises;" the entire bridge leaned forward, wondering upon whom congress would name the most important and vital post of the war, the war admiral in chief, "and finally we name her war admiral in chief, subject to his acceptance of the position, one loyal Captain of our fine navy, now hereby promoted to admiral," everyone glanced around as the president paused, realizing that that meant the selected war admiral in chief wasn't an admiral yet, normally a requirement for the position, "Citizen Kane. All ships, please report to your nearest military base for further instructions. President Neliz out."  
  
All was silent on the bridge. The house of hereditary dignitaries was a fancy way to say "the house of nobles" and they all knew it. They were supposed to provide a portion of control against fads, and the temporary sway of public opinion by insuring that they had no fear of public opinion, but more often simply acted as a roadblock to desperately needed new measures. To hear that they had finally gotten off their collective asses and decided something in a timely manner was beyond belief. These people knew their government well, as it was based off of an old model long in their peoples past, the United States of America. There were many additions to help solve the problems of that union, but the basic outline was much the same. And getting a firm war declaration without an attack on a core system in a reasonable amount of time was unheard of.  
  
Then, the real time bomb sank in. "...war admiral in chief...Citizen Kane." Lieutenant Commander Tachaon stood and faced his captain, for what was perhaps the last moment that Kane was in fact his captain. He began the rarely used ritual, used only when a captain was selected to become the war admiral in chief. "Sir, there has been a war declaration. Does this ship's captain know the pertinent regs?" His voice was coarse, and filled with shock.  
  
"Yes, I do." Kane's voice was soft, and filled with a much worse shock, and laced sorrow.  
  
Tachaon turned to the con officer, who would now be his first officer. "Do you intend to serve to the best of your ability, no matter your position?"  
  
"Yes, I do." The con officer's voice was soft, knowing what would happen. He was third in command, after Tachaon and Kane.  
  
Tachaon turned, slowly, and faced Kane, to complete the ritual. "Captain, are you aware of the full contents and nature of the war message?"  
  
"Yes, I am." Kane's voice was stronger, and filled with a greater sorrow, and anger. His mind was racing. He knew he'd agreed to accept promotion to third admiral, but War Admiral in Chief? The position that leads all assaults, that was second only to the president, and in direct command of the entire military? The one on whose shoulders would rest the entire war effort? Did he dare? Did he want to? Was he good enough?  
  
"Captain, as your first officer and presumed next captain of this vessel, I ask you this: Do you accept your position?" Tachaon's voice was soft, knowing that either way he would lose his friend. No officer that had refused that position could continue, he would be beached. It was the same as with any promotion, those that felt unable weren't argued with. They were agreed with, and never again had it or any other position offered to them.  
  
Kane squared his shoulders, and began the phrases that would formally accept or reject the position offered to him. A ritual as old as the first war admiral, and because it was tradition more unbreakable than any regulation. "I, Citizen Kane, Citizen Member of the Terran Federation, officer in this military, holder of four scarlet ribbons for high judgment on four separate occasions, holder of seven purple hearts," one for each injury he had received in the course of his duty, "holder of the blue ribbon," the ribbon given to those that had risked life and limb to save a comrade during a battle, "possessor of numerous efficiency and other minor awards, and possessor of the golden sphere of Terra," the medal given only to those that risked life and limb in displaying courage above and beyond the call of duty, "hereby accept the offer made by the Congress of this great nation in their war declaration. I am no longer Captain Kane. While this war lasts, I am Chief Admiral Kane. Lieutenant Tachaon, you are frocked to captain. I stand relieved."  
  
"Aye aye sir!" Tachaon's eyes shone with tears as he began the ritual phrase, as ancient as blue water navies. He saluted, and slowly intoned, "I relieve you as captain of this vessel. Fair winds and following seas." He slowly strode up to the command chair, which Kane yielded to him, moving to stand directly in front and to the right of it. Tachaon took the seat, and then intoned the ritual used only rarely, and considered an honor both to give and receive. "Chief admiral, may I welcome you aboard your prior command?"  
  
"Welcome accepted, Captain." 


	8. Part 8

Part 8:  
  
The ship cruised steadily on, under the command of "captain" Tachaon, who swiftly discovered that the captain's chair was much more difficult to handle than he thought it would be when the local commodore called, though otherwise he was well prepared. Kane had isolated himself to quarters earlier, to better handle the incoming flood of reports to the new war admiral. The crew was busy, in good cheer despite the loss of their captain. The work parties moved to their business swiftly, and energetically. The local commodore, Commodore Renaux, was well known for being a rule-bound idiot that couldn't follow any logic but "Higher rank means more important, more important means better person for ANY job."  
  
"'Captain', I must insist that you allow me to speak with 'Admiral' Kane immediately! And I do mean immediately." Commodore Renaux's voice was angry, and filled the room despite the fact that the volume was at 25% real. His face was red, and he was so angry that the nervous tick over the outer side of his right eye was spasming furiously. "I do NOT believe that you are in fact captain of 'your' vessel! The chain of command, as well as rank, would put Commander, correction, Captain Kirk in command. I pushed his promotion through myself! Now, I demand to speak with the captain of your vessel!"  
  
"Commodore Renaux, I am in command of this vessel. As I've been trying to tell you-" Tachaon's voice was tired, as he had been trying to say this for several hours. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, and tried to ward off the sleep his haggard face shouted that he needed. He stared at the face in the left viewscreen of his office desk, as the local commodore interrupted him yet again, for the hundredth time in the last hour. This had been going on for 4 full hours, and the commodore refused to give up or let him get a word in edgewise!  
  
The Commodore repeated his stubborn insistence that "Despite the erroneous nature of the war message, even if 'Admiral' Kane as you insist on referring him were promoted over the heads of his betters, Kirk would be in command! And I demand tha-"  
  
"COMMODORE!" Kane's voice blasted out at what had to be an augmented level; no human set of lungs could have produced what Tachaon was hearing, let alone what the Commodore had to be hearing. The right hand viewscreen popped up out of the desk, hinge pulling it up to bring the face out of the desk, so Tachaon could see his friend. Kane's incensed voice still filled the room, even at the unaugmented levels. His face was drawn, but still strong, and his shoulders were squared back. The golden, stylized representation of Old Terra that perched on them proclaimed his new rank. "I think you have amply proved that I was promoted 'over the head,' as you phrased it, off at least one HIHGER ranking officer, not a superior officer. I'd drop you a rank or five, but I doubt that would be appreciated by central command. Consider yourself-"  
  
"How DARE you! Once the proper admiral is put in charge, I will personally court martial you!" The commodore's voice, still infuriated, this time took on an edge of glee. "That is a threat directed against what you have to know to be a superior officer, as well as an insult! I will contact-"  
  
The commodore's speech was overly dramatic, and his repeated and trite drawing out of words to emphasize them was done in a manner that was guaranteed to dislocate his jaw shortly. An angry Kane, who seemed to have switched back on his augmentation, interrupted it and the camera on his end zoomed in to focus on his forehead. A vein throbbed in one temple, as he began to shout furiously. The decibel warning blinked on Tachaon's console, and he swiftly switched it down to safe levels. However, Kane had apparently engaged his remote override, as the commodore's hands were clasped around his ears in pain at the noise he could no longer reduce.  
  
"COMMODORE, MY CURRENT FLAG CAPTAIN HAS BEEN FAR MORE PATIENT WITH YOU THAN YOU DESERVE! I LEFT THE ORDERS NOT TO BE DISTURBED AND HE HASN'T INTERUPTED YOU ONCE TO PASS THEM ON, DESPITE YOUR CONTINUAL RUDENESS! I'VE READ YOUR RECORD, YOU DON'T DESERVE YOUR CURRENT RANK OR COMMAND. I AM HEREBY RELIEVING YOU OF BOTH OF THEM, AND PLACING YOU UNDER ARREST FOR YOUR BLATANT DISRESPECT OF MY AUTHORITY. YOU ARE TO IMMEDIATLY REPORT YOURSELF TO THE BRIG! I WILL BRING CHARGES TO BEAR AS SOON AS MY CRAFT HAS DOCKED!" Kane's voice suddenly managed the impossible, as it became louder yet, then dropped to normal, albeit with a disgusted rather than angry tone, almost spitting out the last word. "AM I CLEAR, Commodore?"  
  
Commodore Renaux was blanched by the ending, and blinking, shook his head to clear it of the ringing. He then shouted, in a manner that insisted that he was half-deaf instead of angry. "I understand, and will obey under protest. I hereby lodge a complaint against you. Now, before I report to the brig, I demand to know why Captain Kirk is not in command!"  
  
"Alfred is not in command because he was executed for the murder of Private Vork, and the assault resulting in the severe wounding of Marine Lieutenant Second Class Bigpapaj."  
  
"Murder?" The commodore's jaw went slack, and eyes were slightly glazed in shock. He hadn't anticipated what could actually be a good reason for his cousin to not be in charge of the Ajax after the 'promotion' that Kane had received.  
  
"Yes, murder. He was also charged with treason, cowardice, and desertion in the face of the enemy. He attempted to attack Lieutenant Tachaon, and the marine detachment in the courtroom stopped him, at the cost of Vork's life. Lieutenant Bigpapaj is injured, but healing rapidly, and no longer in danger. At least, not from the injuries he received at the hand of Kirk." Kane's voice was studiously neutral as he recited the list of events, in an obviously pre-planned format.  
  
"Treason? What evidence do you have? And what proof of the other charges?" The commodore demanded, voice full of shock, and anger.  
  
"He sabotaged our defenses by installing interrupters that shifted our shield frequencies to harmonize and enhance the radiation released by what otherwise would have been a harmless warhead. Other devices interfered in our point defense grid, preventing the destructing of said warhead and two others that carried the same improved ECM suite, as well as decreasing accuracy against other incoming missiles. His command code was used to unseal the panels, and even a cursory inspection couldn't help but notice the devices once we looked. He was also witnessed to have installed them by one of our chiefs, who received orders not to speak of it. Luckily, he knew when to belay orders, and I've already placed a commendation in his file and field promoted him to senior chief."  
  
"I don't believe you. I will want to see the evidence on that right away! I-" Kane didn't wait for the Commodore to finish.  
  
"You will immediately report to the stations brig, commodore! Now, I insist you-" Kane was interrupted by the Commodore's console, as it started beeping for Renaux's attention. Renaux turned the intercom on, and the voice of the station's AI, TriCon, spoke.  
  
"Commodore, Central command just sent in the most recent personnel report. One of the officers on your watch list was transferred. Captain Kirk is now an assistant to strategic command."  
  
"Say again, TriCon?" The commodore asked softly, as everyone stared at their consoles.  
  
"Captain Kirk has been transferred to strategic command as an assistant to the admiral in charge, Admiral Herknav. Is there a problem with that?"  
  
Kane cut into the conversation via remote computer access. "TriCon, state the full name of the individual you are reporting on."  
  
"Captain Alfred Simon Samuel Kirk, promoted directly before transfer to strategic command from Space Construction Yard 1."  
  
Everyone was silent, wondering what was going on. Then the commodore started in...  
  
"I demand to know the meaning of this Kane! I hereby lodge a complaint..." 


	9. Part 9

Part 9:  
  
Several days later, the Ajax docked to the orbital station. The commodore had argued with them the hole way in, demanding to know what was going on, insisting that Kane's rank was invalid, until finally Kane managed to convince some of the Commodore's subordinates that the Commodore needed to be forcibly relieved of command. Then, the real work began. The local colonies could be evacuated, however the slow speed of the Ithkul ships offered another opportunity. Kane ordered all of the planets in the system to immediately begin producing as many missile ships and carriers as possible. He specifically chose designs for construction that featured heavy, large, effective missiles over swarms of weaker missiles. The scans from the earlier combat suggested that the Ithkul's shields were extremely powerful, and they would need the extra punch. Within the week, the craft were in full-scale production. Reinforcements were on their way under maximum power from everywhere, including the Psilons and Meklar. A super dreadnought, the Enterprise, soon arrived from home world. A massive ship, she was constructed as an admiral's command post from the keel up. Her shields and armor were second to none, and her communications capacity incredible. Even the incoming leviathans would be hard pressed to penetrate her shields and armor, and only the fact that the enemy seemed heavily beam-reliant allowed that threat to exist. The Enterprise had no offensive armament to speak of, merely many batteries of point defense and counter-missiles. Kane knew she would come out nearly wrecked despite her defensive power. He transferred his flag to her immediately.  
  
Kirk worried him however. The commander Kirk who had been his second in command had been ruled a clone, a spy placed to weaken his ship, to allow easy destruction to keep the wormhole secret. Kane wasn't so sure however. He'd used his authority to have Kirk transferred to a less secure set of duties until a full security check could be made, but he couldn't keep Kirk out of the loop forever. He hoped he would succeed in proving Kirk to be a traitor, but he doubted it would happen any time soon.  
  
Soon, the time came for battle to be joined. His fleets were ready, and it was time to face the Ithkul assault. He had his com officer, Captain Barker, put him on an all-hands channel to the entire fleet. His voice was tense, but infused with the confidence required of a flag officer. He couldn't show doubt, or worry, or his crews would fall apart.  
  
"All hands, all hands, this is Admiral Kane. I know that many of you are not from the Terran Federation and are here only to serve your own home. I speak to you as well. Today we draw a line in the stars. Today we face down an enemy beyond evil, today we face an opponent who can not be allowed to live. We have a force far superior to any ever before allowed us. Not since before the fall has such a force been gathered under any flag but the New Orions. I can not say what way this battle will go. But we will not retreat. We will not surrender, we will not give in, we will not budge. We will hold this line. I won't lie to you, many if not all of us will die. Some of us will die to protect our homes, some the homes of friends or family, others the homes of people that are only fellow citizens. There are also those that are here to help us do this, honoring the alliance between our peoples. We must remember to be thankful for their aid. Follow your chain of command, and the chain of command for the joint taskforce. It is my decision that the Psilon fighter-ace Pace shall be in command of our joint fighter wings. For those that don't know, the Psilon rank of fighter-ace is equal to our own captain, so he out ranks any of our pilots. He and his staff are in charge of fighter ops. Second in command of overall operations is Admiral JP-16-1, the Meklar commander. Should I fall or my coms fail, obey him as you would me. Should boarding operations occur, each ship has been provided with a company of Sakkra marines, under the overall command of General Godzilla on board my ship. Try to avoid any boarding actions, but if you see a tempting target or you are targeted, don't avoid them at any major cost-I doubt the Ithkul are capable of overcoming Sakkra. We had a hard enough time during our war with them after all. Ladies and gentlemen, go to battle stations. And know this: to paraphrase the ancient poet Tennyson it is 'Ours not to make reply, ours not to reason why, ours but to do and die!' Do your duty, though it take you into the jaws of death or the mouth of hell, and our glory can never fade, and all the galaxy will wonder. Admiral Kane out!" Kane's voice went from the steady, confident tone, to a much crisper tone as he snapped out orders. "Con, bring us about. Fleet to battlestations! Go weapons hot! Sensors, time to Ithkul emergence?"  
  
"One minute from... mark!" Commander Goodridge was still as good as ever, and the Ithkul came out one minute to-the nanosecond-later. 


	10. Part 10

Part 10  
  
Massive firepower crisscrossed in an orgy of mutual destruction. While the Ithkul's leviathans were beam heavy, their smaller ships were ridiculously fighter and missile heavy. Normally most navies favored the reverse approach, putting the beams on smaller craft that were easier to replace after the catastrophic losses that approaching a missile-group would incur, as well as helping them hide until they could reach beam range. Despite its departure from standard tactics, the Ithkul approach made a unique sense. The large beam ships were surviving the withering missile fire and fighter swarms to close far better than any normal beam taskforce, and the far smaller and lighter missile craft and carriers were swiftly moving to a significant distance, preventing beam craft from engaging them without disengaging the leviathans that were the current major threat. Kane hated having to keep them in close to the leviathans, both because of the losses they were taking and the fact that it would hurt him later when they would have to work themselves into weapons range of the missile craft, but he had no choice. He couldn't detach them without removing the screen protecting his missile craft, and exposing his relatively weak craft to beam fire. He swiftly decided to compromise the two necessities, and started snapping out orders in a crisp voice. "Detach three, no make that four squadrons of Poignards," a frigate sized mixed beam craft, using both short and long range beams along with a smattering of PD, "and send them against the retreating indirect fire groups. Have the Meklar swing around and try to entrap the leviathans. I want them pinned against our craft so our missile control can lock them up. JP-16-1, bring your fleet in, I don't think they're going to try and pull any surprises out of the starlane."  
  
JP-16-1's mechanical voice responded, "Understood. Bringing Fleet AO-00-01 in to combat range." His flat tone sounded out of place on the flag bridge, filled as it was with human voices rich with emotion as they cursed the enemy and their own losses. Combat chatter was thrown from one end of the room to the other, as Kane sought to find and exploit any enemy weakness or mistake, and deny the enemy the opportunity to exploit any of his. The deck of his flagship shuddered as enemy fighters sought to find any holes in the shields of the Harrington Class vessel, but held. Then the impossible happened.  
  
"ADMIRAL! Com failure, repeat, COM FAILURE!" Captain Barker cried out. "Radiation buildup on the hull has somehow short-circuited the transmission antenna. Communications reception is moderately impaired, but still functional."  
  
Kane stood and stared, realizing what that meant. His voice snapped out, inquiring, "Has JP-16-1 taken command yet?" A power line across the bridge, near the communications terminal, overloaded and snapped, and a curtain of sparks rained down around it as the two ends fell down, emphasizing the damage.  
  
Barker quickly checked his console. "He's querying us sir! He's standing by to take command in case of com failure." A few moments later, while Kane was still thinking, "He's formally taken command sir! Fleet is reforming under his orders. No major redisposition of forces sir, though he is switching the four Poignard squadrons you dispatched with eight Stiletto squadrons."  
  
Kane did a double take, and sat back down, pondering. "That's a pretty good idea," he said, voice thoughtful. He watched the combat display as JP- 16-1 maneuvered the fleet around, twisting it to ensnare the enemy leviathans even better than he had managed. The eight Stilettos that JP-16- 1 had dispatched were about the same in over all force level to the four Poignard squadrons, but slightly faster and able to split up more ways. Though stilettos were little more than oversized fighters, their spinal mount maulers were much nastier than most beam weapons mounted on ships of quadruple their size, and with all their firepower focused forward they were capable of wiping out the penny-packets of enemy ships that they'd encounter quickly. Kane leaned back, and watched JP-16-1 fight Kane's battle for him. 


	11. Part 11

Part 11  
  
Even as the two fleets fought, the fighters skirmished amongst them, vying for supremacy as they fought to survive. There were thousands of them, twisting, turning, swerving, corkscrewing. Each side had several designs in space. Some were bombers, sacrificing speed and maneuverability for firepower, designed to attack and destroy capitol ships while enduring the withering point defense fire such powerful vessels could produce. Still others were interceptors, lightly armed and slow on the helm but faster than anything else, attempting to reach and destroy bombers. Still others were fighter/bombers, designed to counter interceptors even as they bombed a capitol craft, the most massive of the fighter designs.  
  
In between the dueling bombers and interceptors, vying to destroy each other, were the true fighters. Twisting, swerving, pulling turns with G forces upwards of 100 Terran gravities, inertial compensators squealing as they attempted to protect their pilots. Powerful engines sputtered and roared in turns as pilots used not only speed and acceleration advantages but also the ability to go from full acceleration and no acceleration to trick their opponents. Twisting, turning, dying, fighting, they engaged in massive battles as they struggled. The true fighters, the dogfighters.  
  
Again and again they clashed, and when they ran out of ammo returned to base. The capitol ships moved around each other as their fighters died, attempting to bring themselves to bear against each other. Missiles filled the void between the vessels, and energy beams strong enough to vaporize small towns, but focused to energize an area the size of the head of a pin, crisscrossed as they fought. Squadrons of Stilettos acted as oversized fighters, twisting and turning to avoid enemy fire as they fought their way into beam range, then turning in and firing blast after blast of mauler energy at vessels many times their size while accelerating directly at their target. Many died in those attacks, but their firepower wreaked havoc across their targets hulls. Poignard squadrons wove around them, firing blast after blast without a break in their evasive maneuvers.  
  
Massive Krios class dreadnoughts launched waves of powerful missiles straight into the enemy leviathans, saturating their point defense and hitting their shields with blasts capable of vaporizing entire moons. Blast after blast hit them, and still the shields held. The Krios squadrons shrugged off the few fighter attacks that reached them, despite their weak shields, as their massive PD batteries caused losses no fighter wing could survive.  
  
Even larger Relentless class carriers launched wave after wave of fighters, re-arming as fast as they could those fighters that managed to survive long enough to empty their weapons. They absorbed massive amounts of damage on their shields, as their dogfighters acted as their PD to free up the room necessary for truly powerful shields.  
  
The two sides struggled, the lighter energy units of the Terran Federation weaving complex designs and patterns around the much more massive and slow- footed leviathans. Yet despite the efforts of the defenders, the leviathans just kept on moving, slowly forcing their way deeper and deeper into the system, heading straight for the planet nearest the starlane. Those massive mountains of gleaming metal absorbed firepower that would have destroyed any lesser craft, and worse yet they did so without taking any appreciable damage. Steeldriver squadrons, equipped with massive spinal-mount force projectors that attempted to slow or stop a ship, sent wave after wave of pure force straight into the leviathans, and barely managed to slow them down. Lance squadrons sent their own phasor fire into the fray, specially designed beams that had a width measured in the trillionth of a meter, attempting to penetrate the leviathan's shields to no avail. Luckily the Leviathan's beam weapons were all massive and too slow to aim, and could not hit the fleeter targets that were swarming her. Despite this, they still sailed on in an effort to reach the planet. To make up for their inaccuracy, the smaller Ithkul missile craft launched wave after wave of missiles, targeting the Terran energy ships. Despite the Terran's far superior PD, they still inflicted what would normally be ruinous losses. Still the leviathans lumbered on, more or less ignoring the gnats swarming them. Several of the damaged gnats, whose engines were damaged, couldn't get out of the way in time and vanished in blinding explosions as they were rammed. Still the leviathans forced their way to the planet.  
  
The Ithkul support ships vanished, destroyed by the detached Stiletto squadrons, slowly robbing the Ithkul of both fighter and missile power. The Terran Federation and its allies managed to maintain a globe around the leviathans, and with the enemy indirect fire groups destroyed, soon had a monopoly on long-range combat. Still the leviathans ignored their opponents' efforts to distract them, lashing out with fiery death that constantly missed its target as they lumbered on, finally reaching missile range of the planet. Missiles larger than small hyper-capable ships were launched, and the massive warheads detonated. Though Kane was out of communication, his strategy worked beautifully, to a point. They were causing incredible amounts of damage to the leviathans, yet not a single erg of firepower had yet penetrated the massive shielding. Then, a tactical officer screamed aboard the Enterprise, a scream of joy, not pain or fear.  
  
"SHIELD DROP ON LEVIATHAN NUMBER ONE! SECTOR 15A! RE-" his voice paused, and then, voice and eyes heavy with disappointment, he said "Disregard that admiral, they got that segment of their shields back up."  
  
Barker spoke up, voice studiously neutral. "Sir, JP-16-1 is ordering all units to focus all their firepower on the dropped shield, in the hopes of bringing it down again. Engineering reports that they may have communication back up soon, but the residual radiation fries the relays whenever they try to test them. You can get one quick burst message out, then they'll have to repair the coms again."  
  
"Understood, I'll save it until we need it." Kane replied. He was bleeding from a cut in the forehead, where an overhead panel had fallen and hit him. He was tired, very tired, and sick with the price his people were paying. This wasn't the first time he'd exercised tactical command, though it was the first time he had done so on a large scale. He still remembered-  
  
"INCOMING!" The tactical officer's scream went over the entire ship, as all the enemy fighters that had managed to run out of ammo without their mother ship engaged in a final assault, a ramming assault.  
  
The ship shook with impact after impact, but her shields held. When all the enemy fighters were done, Kane smiled, and de-activated his seat clamp, and a stealthed fighter rammed the unprepared ship. He was thrown from his seat, and was stunned on impact. He wished he'd left his belt on, and then the overhead above his chair caved in, and a piece of the rubble hit his temple. 


	12. Part 12

Part 12  
  
Despite the collapse of a shield segment, still the leviathans plowed onward. Massive missiles launched from the planet, flew across the void of space, and impacted on the leviathan's shields, to no effect. Then, the fire plan shifted. Instead of attempting to saturate the shields all at once, all fire was to focus on one point in an effort to bring that one shield down. Massive amounts of firepower shifted course, sweeping through space to bring them selves to bear on the weakened section of shielding. Stiletto and Poignard squadrons swung around and brought themselves into firing position. Space is huge, and their reach was long, and yet they still managed to crowd themselves in so thick that no more than one third of their total strength could fire at a time. JP-16-1 ordered the additional units to split up, and focus the additional firepower on the other leviathans. They were to attempt to bring down a shield segment there, as the main fleet was attempting on the first leviathan. Massive firepower poured into the shields of the first leviathan, and yet it just kept on coming.  
  
Then a Talon class ship, the largest beam ship in the Federation's fleet, fired its broadside at an extreme angle to the weakened shield segment. The force beams hit first, opening a slight crack in the shielding, wedging themselves in-between shield segments, and opening a gap. Then the plasma blasts hit, irradiating the entire section, and weakening the peripheral effects of the shielding, so that instead of having a small gap with minimal shield effects, there was a medium sized gap with no shield effects. Then the phasor blasts made it in. They were slightly distorted by the effects of the force beams, but they still pushed through the gap. They streaked across the leviathan's hull, underneath it's shielding, and impacted against a shield emitter. The beams sent of a shower of sparks as they hit, and the nearby armor sagged. However, the shield emitter didn't sag. Instead, it exploded with incredible force as weapon grade energy poured into it, instantly turning it into plasma. The force backtracked into the power grid, exactly as the designers had intended. However, instead of draining a portion of the enemy firepower impacting on the shields, this power surge caused burnouts across the entire segment of the ship. The shield for that sector fell, and most of the offensive weapons and sensor went offline. The entire point defense grid in that region went off line, and the bombers swiftly took advantage of that fact to launch a massive strike. Bomber after bomber closed in, accelerated at the hull, detached their bombs, and streaked off while their bomb continued in a straight-line course for the leviathan's hull. Soon, missiles and beams also started wearing away at the armor there. However, the twenty meter thick armor held, and held, and held, despite the best firepower they could bring to bear. They slowly wore away at it, but once the leviathan finished rolling ship they could no longer bring the planet's missiles to bear there.  
  
Sufficient firepower to pulverize an entire planet's surface hammered into the breached shield, and still the leviathan lumbered onward. Always onward, straight for the planet. Blast after blast impacted on the armor, and still it held. Then, a wily captain reconfigured his force beams to try and pull instead of push. The armor visibly shifted, and lifted outward several meters. He passed on the info to JP-16-1, and the admiral swiftly ordered all force-beam equipped ships to make the same modification. Soon, the newly created tractor-beams pulled at the hull segment, and then with a swift, sudden movement a fifty-meter by fifty- meter segment rocketed from the hull. Beneath was a thin lair of sheet metal, nothing before the incoming firepower. Air started steaming out, and finally the leviathan lurched, shifting course. At long last, the leviathan did not head straight for the planet. The other two leviathans attempted to shift around and provide fire support to their wounded comrade, but the damage was too severe. Even more massive bursts of firepower flew into the chink in its armor, and suddenly the armor was the leviathan's own worst enemy. Explosion after explosion occurred inside the hull, and soon the inside of the leviathan was nothing more than a large amount of flotsam and junk floating around inside an armored shell. The leviathan's shields all collapsed, and its weapons, engines, and sensors stopped. It floated, dead in space. All the ships attacking it swiftly shifted target.  
  
They now knew the leviathan's weak point, as the commander who had breached the shield had realized that extreme angles breached the shields. The only question was would they manage to bring down the other two before they reached the planet? 


	13. Part 13

Part 13  
  
Note: You may wish to skip to the end of this part, and read the addendum first.  
  
Even as the first leviathan twisted and burned, and eventually died, a second battle was going on. It wasn't a battle against the Harvesters, but against a far more implacable enemy, an enemy whom all doctors are sworn to fight. Death came for many, but the doctors held it at bay. Medical frigates, consisting of engines, shields, armor, and medical bays swooped through the wreckage, using specially designed tractor beams in an effort to grab any still-living survivors. At first, they were looking for any survivor, human or harvester, as the modern Doctor's Oath requires of them. However, the Harvesters had had other ideas. Now, they were searching only for humans.  
  
"Twelve CCs benocyadzine!" An anxious voice called out. The patient was so tired he couldn't open his eyes. He wondered what they were talking about.  
  
"Here doctor." Another voice replied.  
  
"Damn it all, we're losing him!" A third voice butted in. "We need to close him up before he bleeds to death! We're running short on blood-sub!"  
  
"I know that, I know that! But if I don't get this flak fragment out of his body before it hits his heart, it'll kill him!" Flak guns were antipersonnel weapons that through out a cloud of razor sharp fragments, designed specifically to cut into and through a body. But the harvester version was very nasty, using a light polymer based alloy that didn't cut through the body, just cut into it and then floated in the bloodstream, following the blood flow and shredding the person from the inside. A very painful death to experience.  
  
"Those edges have already cut him up but good, you have to close him up. He's hopeless!" A fourth voice interjected.  
  
"NO! 'When death comes' sir!"  
  
The reply was in a cold voice. "Yielding to save another." It was a cold voice that said that, emotionless not because it was uncaring, but because its owner couldn't afford to care, yet.  
  
The first voice paused, and a soft sob issued from the general area it came from. A sad voice then said, "All right, computer! Death certificate, auto-fill out, cause of death: massive internal injuries from harvester flack gun. Bring in the next patient. Send the doctor to reclamation, have them see if they can pull some of the blood-sup out or recycle some of the organs we're running out of replacements for from his body."  
  
I'm dead, the former doctor thought. Oh well, wasn't that great a life anyway. Just hope they get those thrice damned harv- He never finished the thought.  
  
The doctors moved onto the next patient.  
  
***  
  
Meanwhile the two remaining leviathans begin to reconsider. They com'd each other again and again, each captain trying to decide who was in command now that the Admiral was dead. Each had watched as the humans had made, and then exploited, a gap in the command ship's shields. They knew they had to act, but how? Then, the humans began to come for the second leviathan. Its captain, Desprez, became even more desperate, and agreed to accept Cyzada's command. Cyzada then ordered Desprez to hold course and acceleration, while he fell back and to the side in an effort to bring maximum firepower to bear on the volume in which the humans were attacking. In theory, he could then fill that volume with so much firepower that the humans would be vastly weakened, and lost many ship. Desprez agreed, so desperate that he didn't even realize the potential for a trick.  
  
The third leviathan turned on its heels, bringing its nose up, and up, and up, until it was accelerating straight back to the starlane. The human's let it retreat, as JP-16-1 felt that the still advancing leviathan was the greater threat. This time they englobed the leviathan, firing weapons at extreme angles. By sheer luck, one of the ships found the right combination, and blasted through the shields. Unfortunately, they didn't hit a shield emitter, or any other component designed to feed back into the power grid in case of overload. As the details began to flood in, soon a bright young ensign put two and two together, and realized that not only did you have to fire at an extreme angle to the shields; you also had to fire a certain combination of weapons. She passed this on to her counterpart on the command ship, a fraction of a second before her ship was destroyed, with all hands lost.  
  
The third leviathan was already a large distance away, and unless it started its flip soon would be unable to help the other. Desprez com'd Cyzada, demanding to know what was going on. Cyzada said that he had come to the conclusion that Desprez's command was beyond aid, and that they only way any of the ships could survive was for him to take his leviathan out of the action. Infuriated by this reply, Desprez started his own flipping maneuver, and ordered his crew to target Cyzada's engines and fire, immediately. If he was going to die, so was Cyzada! The Need which had propelled them to make war against all other species was barely contained within their own, and Cyzada's behavior had broken the bounds that normally held it in place. The Need to rend and destroy took over Desprez and his crew's minds completely, and they howled in blood rage. Many, many more gave themselves over to the power chambers to aid in the destruction of the one who had betrayed them. The weapons fire flickered between the two craft, but Cyzada's command had to large a speed advantage, and soon pulled out of range, but not before it suffered partial drive damage that cut it to half acceleration.  
  
The humans know knew both parts of how to penetrate the Leviathan's shields, and began shredding the armor plating of the second leviathan. However, they still hadn't managed to bring down a shield facing, let alone bring one down in such a manner as to disable such a large section of it. However, they were wearing away at the armor, and hopefully would soon bring down a shield. Then, luck struck again. Rather than hitting a shield, a lucky phasor-blast managed to strike one of the engine outlets. Normally the power feedback wouldn't have been noticeable, but this time wasn't normal. The engines had been running at extra capacity as the ship tried to stop and reverse course, and they were being forced to vent overheated drive-plasma as they did so. The phasor blast managed to send a power surge just strong enough to drop the magnetic containment bottle on the plasma, at the same time as a second phasor blast, which had missed the hull completely, ignited the drive-plasma. The explosion was so great it disabled the leviathan's engines and sent a feedback surge into the power cores, disabling them permanently. The leviathan lost all shields, all power, all weapons, and floated dead in space as a few last blasts ate at the now unprotected hull. Devoid of the structural integrity fields that normally reinforced it, the armor buckled in many places. Soon, there would be an accounting. But for now, JP-16-1 ordered all ships to go to maximum engines and intercept the third leviathan.  
  
Soon they were worrying away at the third leviathan, which had just left the planet's missile range. The third leviathan was heading straight for the medical ships, and the medical ships were refusing to give way. They intended to remain were they were until the very last minute in an effort to save as many as possible. All aboard the fleet watched in dread, expecting their fire to be ineffective at the beginning, leaving the medical ships in the path of the leviathan, a massacre waiting to happen. Then blind luck managed to give them yet another break, and they hit a series of shield emitters in a matter of seconds, and brought down the systems on over half of the hull. They used tractor-shifted force beams to pull away the armor, and then stood off while capitol ships poured missile fire into the brand new hole. With so much of hull integrity fields down, the armor held only long enough for the missile borne hell-fire to destroy the interior, and then split all along the edges, sending fragments out like deadly shards of glass. Luckily, the beam ships had already backed off to a safe distance and weren't affected. Only one of the medical ships was hit by the debris, and that was a glancing blow that did no real damage.  
  
For a moment, all was quite on board all of the ships. Then, inside the sickbay of the Enterprise, a patient groaned and sat up. He immediately snapped out a question, "What the hell happened to me? How's the battle going?" As though that was a trigger, despite the fact that he wasn't on the com, every single ship in the fleet broke out into cheering. ___________________________________________________________  
  
The doctor's oath: "I will, to the best of my ability, apply my art to the service of life. Though it be human or alien, friend or foe, mammal or insect, I will aid life. When death comes, I will fight it to the last, yielding only when the patient cannot survive, and by yielding I can save another. Should the patient decide that his wounds leave life itself unbearable, I shall attempt to remonstrate with him otherwise, but shall allow him to make that final journey. Though I am sworn to service life, I shall not stand aside from conflict, but shall take up weapon to protect my patients or the innocent, acting as my judgment requires, either to disable or to kill. Above all else, I will remember this: My purpose is not to heal the wound, but to heal a patient. I swear this by all I hold dear, my most sacred beliefs, my honor, and all my wealth." 


	14. Part 14

Part 14  
  
A large number of ships swarmed around the leviathan. General Godzilla prepared his troops to board the crippled leviathan in an attempt to capture it. He knew well that the Terran Federation and its allies desperately needed whatever technology they could get. The Ithkul armor, in particular, was dangerous to the allies, as their own armor was less than a third as effective. Also, the allies' armor had one other flaw compared to the Ithkul. The harvester's armor didn't lose its structural integrity fields immediately after power failure. Instead, the fields remained intact for a few minutes after power was cut to them, allowing for an increased resilience against battle damage. The Terran Federation hoped that they could refine that ability, and allow the structural integrity fields to survive at full strength even with reduced power in some of their craft, such as the underpowered fighter classes. Also, they desperately desired the shield technology, as the rough initial details their analysts could gather suggested they might be far superior.  
  
While the preparations were underway, Admiral Kane went down to Yevon to talk with a physics professor there. Professor Mictian was more than a simple physics professor; he was perhaps the most brilliant man in the entire Terran Federation, with cross-degrees in mechanical engineering and the experimental field of energy-field engineering. He had refused a personal evacuation, saying that he would share the risks of the rest of the colonists despite his "value" to the war effort, but Kane hoped that even he couldn't refuse the opportunity to study the Harvester technology first hand. Kane walked into his classroom, and waited to be recognized. He'd deliberately come down in semi-dress uniform, knowing that anything less could be taken as an insult. He didn't like doing it, it felt too much like blowing his own trumpet, but he could NOT risk losing Mictian's help. Kane listened to Mictian's lecture, wondering how he had learned so much so fast about the harvester's shields.  
  
"Scans indicate that the Ithkul shields do not operate on the same principles as our own. There are several major differences, which we will address in a point-by-point manner. First of all, the Ithkul shield shape. Our ships generate spherical shields, using gravimetric lenses to then reshape that shield into an oval that fits more usefully around our ships. However, the Ithkul ships are not stuck to spherical or sphere derived shield shapes. This allows their ships to take on different dimensions, whereas ours are almost always in an ovoid shape." The professor's voice was even, and rang out clearly despite a lack of mechanical augmentation. He was one of the few humans who could, and would, use the full capacity of his voice and lungs without additional training. Kane smiled, remembering the incessant lessons in the academy on how to project your voice. You had to open your throat, and push from the diaphragm. It allowed an officer to yell much louder than most enlisted would ever believe. Mictian seemed especially good at it. His slim build gave him a disadvantage, but his height seemed to make up for it. Mictian's hands gesticulated as he explained, and a scaled down hologram of the Ithkul ship and its shield geometry helped give a visual reference.  
  
"Second, they do not generate one shield, or use shield layers. There really isn't an easy way to describe this, but they seem to use a system similar to medieval scale mail. They generate plates, which overlap each other and allow for slightly weaker individual shields but a much stronger shield overall. Some of you may recall that early Terran Empire ships used a similar system, often referred to as "serpant's scales". However, the Terran Empire ship's shields were subtly different. They consisted of a band of stressed space, where incoming fire was diverted away from a ship. Each blast that was bent away drained some of the energy that stressed the space, and thus weakened the shield. Such approaches were dropped with the creation of the Terran Federation's current Edon approach. As you all know, the Edon approach creates an energy field that acts as solid matter. Any material or energy impacting on it causes a minor power surge into the shield generator, as well as sapping the strength of the shield itself. This allows much stronger blasts to be deflected away from the ship, regardless of range, and is also stronger than the old approach. This helped to offset the disadvantage inherent in having only a single shield facing, and is why we use it today. The Ithkul however, use the Edon approach WITHOUT having to give up the scale-mail approach. This puts us at a disadvantage, as each of their shield facings are just as strong as the shields on one of our ships, and they have a great deal more of them. There is also a third point, however." Mictian's voice was still just as loud, and Kane began to frown. Even with the lessons he'd been given, Kane would have been at least a little out of breath by now. Mictian wasn't even showing any signs of lack of air, despite the fact that according to the schedule he must have been doing this for several hours!  
  
"The Ithkul shields are not half as powerful as they appeared to be during the combat. Post-combat analysis of the data suggests that their shields can absorb up to 60% of the weapon's power thrown at them, and shunt that back into the shield itself. This means that their shields can only be brought down by overwhelming them with so much power that the absorbing circuits are overloaded, or by somehow bypassing the shields and striking at the emitter directly. Also, post-combat analysis of the data suggests that the energy-absorbing circuits are vulnerable to such direct attacks, causing a fatal feedback into the local power grid. I watched the battle using the university's deep-space scanner, and believe that that is what brought the shield facing on the first leviathan down. Admiral Kane," Mictian turned his head to look at his visitor, "would you care to comment on this?" Mictian's sudden recognition of his visitor took Kane by surprise, and he took a few seconds to respond. When he did, his voice was calm and anyone who knew him would know he was making an effort to be amiable. He could not afford to insult Mictian, or lose his help in any way.  
  
"Unfortunately, I was knocked unconscious early on in the battle, and can't give a very detailed analysis to your class. However, from my review of the combat logs, I would have to agree with your analysis. But there is one thing you seem to have overlooked-the initial shield failure that caused us to focus our firepower on leviathan one. I'd suggest that in addition to the possibility of overloading the energy absorbing circuits it might be possible to bring it down another way. I believe the current theory is that the absorbing circuits have the potential for random failures, though there may be other explanations. Indeed, that is why I am here, as you are recognized as the best mechanical and energy-field engineer in the entire federation. Though, to be honest, you are the ONLY person whom possesses any recognition in both fields, as most mechanical engineers feel that energy field engineering is a waste of time, and most energy field engineers feel that mechanical engineering is outdated."  
  
"Why would that make me so important?" Mictian's voice now held a note of interest. Most people just scoffed at his energy-field mechanics degree and theories, including the military.  
  
"Because we have confirmed from the wreckage of the Ithkul ships that they do in fact use at least some mixed energy-field mechanics in their construction." Kane's voice was level, but it defiantly got Mictian's attention.  
  
"WHAT!?" Mictian shouted in excitement, jaw going slack in excitement as he dropped his holo-remote. Kane repeated himself, slowly and clearly. Mictian whipped around, facing his class, and shouted out instructions. "Class will end early today. Go through your syllabus and study everything we didn't get to; you should have received an updated version before class. If you didn't, query my computer for one. I want an analysis on the difference between Edon state shields and space-stress band shields from everyone, and I want the Honors students to analyze the nature of the Ithkul shield readings, query my computer for them, and try and determine how they are vulnerable, and the whys of any vulnerability you discover. Be sure to examine both the vulnerabilities found in combat, and any possible vulnerability that weren't found in combat. Remember, as honor's students you are NOT only examining previously known info but also constantly attempting to expand on what is known! Class is suspended for one week; I'll let you know if a longer delay is necessary. Check for updated syllabuses daily!" Mictian turned and faced Kane. "When do we leave?"  
  
"Assuming you don't want to pack anything, we can leave now. We can provide you with food, clothing, and whatever instrumentation you desire."  
  
"Then what are we waiting for? LETS GO!" Mictian shouted, and then ran out of the classroom. Kane ran and caught up, then lead the professor to his shuttle. The professor was quite fast, and once Mictian realized that Kane could keep up he ran at his full speed, which was almost as fast as Kane's sprint. 


	15. Part 15

Part 15:  
  
"It may have been easier if we had attacked earlier. Now we know what we face." General Godzilla stated in what the translator rendered as a flat tone, sentences as broken as when originally uttered. "The biological modifications are extensive. Human base. Add on believed to be harvester. Parasitical nature nearly proven. Interesting ideas abound. Most make my head hurt." Godzilla grinned a toothy lizard grin, and sheepishly admitted "Most scientists make my head hurt."  
  
"Your analysis of the assault's potential?" Kane queried.  
  
"New data gives better chance. Chance still good. Not much change. Worried about troops. What if parasites lose host. Get new host?" The translator beeped, indicating translation failure, and re-rendered the last three sentences. "I'm worried about the possibility that the harvester parasites may attempt to take control of Sakkra troops after their human hosts are destroyed."  
  
"That is unlikely. Apparently they are very much linked to their host. While the human structure survives more or less intact, autopsies indicate that the parasites fuse their exoskeleton directly to the human skeletal system. The also seem to merge their nervous system directly to the human, so that rather than interfacing directly to a separate human nervous system, they simply take over and merge them as one. This explains the reaction time, and the extensive neurological changes. Most importantly, it explains their need to rend, maim, and destroy. It doesn't originate solely from the parasite unit, but rather from the changes the parasite unit creates in the host's biosystem. To-" Coughing at Kane's glare, Mictian mumbled "Er, sorry. This isn't my specialty, but that's what the medics told me."  
  
"Head hurt worse. Thought you were scientist. You're doctor. Doesn't make sense. Think troops not in danger." Godzilla's translator again beeped, "I though you were a scientist, but now you're a doctor. I think you said the troops aren't in danger."  
  
"General, please ready your troops. Take all precautions, but I want that ship intact. Take prisoners if possible. Good, luck, and you're dismissed." Kane waited until after Godzilla thumped his fist against his chest in salute. Wincing, as always, at the force involved, Kane wondered how the Sakkra had evolved such strong scales. Stronger than normal steel, the material was extremely tough for a biological compound, yet it could bend and unbend itself in a manner more reminiscent of human skin than metal. They'd need the armoring.  
  
"Now, onto the next problem." Kane continued. He wished that more of his duties could be consolidated this way. Dealing with major command decisions at the same time as his weekly operations meetings helped cut down on the time it took to do his job. Noticing the next item on his list, Kane gave a smile-a rarity these days-and chuckled. "Welcome aboard Major Mcguillity. I see you've been promoted since the last time I saw you. I'll arrange a party soon. Have your subordinates managed to track down the galley thief yet?"  
  
Major Mcguillity smiled at the greeting, and with a little laugh said "Yes, actually, they have. Seamen Recruit Montana, cook's assistant, will be at the next Captain's Mast."  
  
"Great. The help was nibbling..."  
  
**********  
  
Having stripped the craft of its armor, the beam ships veered off to allow the specially designed assault shuttles to do their job. Roaring in, the assault shuttles pierced the sheet metal and swiftly disgorged their payloads of four heavily armed marines each. The marines swiftly ran through the corridors, looking for resistance. To their surprise, there was none. They swiftly took control of the areas surrounding the points of entry, one near the bridge, another near the engine room, and the last near an unidentified space that had the spooks curious. Spreading out, they discovered no signs of the Ithkul presence. The brightly lit corridors almost glowed under the lights. "Pretty metals. Me want take home." One marine muttered, only to be smacked by his sergeant. "Keep head on fight, not meal. Metal pretty, but look close." The sergeants tone was harsh, "That not just metal. That slime. Probably Ithkul waste." "Oh, me no want eat that! Me not touch pretty metals. Look tasty though."  
  
Having secured the bridge and engine room, the Sakkra attempted to secure the third target. However, they couldn't figure out how to reach it. All the corridors seemed to lead away from it. Then, all hell broke loose as a massive bulkhead was blasted open, squashing several marines against a far bulkhead. Paused in shock, the nearby marines still managed to survive the Ithkul advance long enough to call for help. By the time the help arrived, all that was left of the squad was a few scales here and there. Or rather, pieces of scales that had been bitten in two. There was no sign of the opening the Ithkul had used.  
  
Elsewhere, another bulkhead blasted open, but this time it missed its targets. The Sakkra marines swiftly marched through the new opening, relaying their position and status just moments before that opening also vanished - and them with it.  
  
At this point, general Godzilla was getting angry. "Get more troops! Flood area, find Ithkul!" he growled, "Stay together! Work in platoons. Each platoon keep three other in sight. Even dispersion. Don't bunch up. Go!" Glancing into a cabin, he roared "And no eating pretty rocks!" at several marines that had found the Ithkul's rock garden. Or at least, what looked like a rock garden. Unfortunately, that command came a moment too late and one of the Sakkra bit down on the 'rock.' Several legs split out of it, and grasped the poor marines face before others jammed down its throat and began the merging process. The new entity was burned to nothing by its former fellows in seconds. 


	16. Part 16

Part 16  
  
The helmet on the forward screen obscured General Godzilla's face, but all on the bridge could hear his desperation. "Need more troops! Ithkul use hit-run tactics to hurt us for no losses. Lost several troops to ambushes. Lost three to Ithkul egg. One burned down, two others became Ithkul. Doctor lied. Can us take over not disengaged." A beep indicated a translation error, and the translator re-rendered in a subtitle on the screen "They can take us over, so long as they aren't previously engaged."  
  
Kane's face was drawn. "Do you control a point of ingress?"  
  
"Wha?" The Sakkran commander's face was blank.  
  
"Do you have a place where they can land?" Kane explained, frustrated.  
  
"Yes. Near rock garden. Good rocks there, not Ithkul rocks." The General gave a large, toothy grin. "Taste real good when need snack. Second send spot now."  
  
"Keep your mind on the fight, general. Get back to work. I'll land the rest of the marines as soon as I get the coordinates."  
  
"O. K." Godzilla grinned, and then signed out.  
  
"McGuillity, you heard the lizard. I want every last marine in the fleet en route in five minutes. That includes ship's security. Naval personnel can take that over for now." Kane ordered with a yawn. "I'll be in bed when you have something for me. And that something had better be controlling that ship, or heads will roll."  
  
With the additional reinforcements, General Godzilla was able to keep a watch on the entire area surrounding the Ithkul position. Unable to penetrate any further, he ordered the scientists to come in, under the guard of some of the reinforcements, and begin disassembling and reverse engineering the ship. They weren't harmed, but several of the marines reported 'feeling watched.' General Godzilla simply reinforced the science groups with one Sakkra marine each. Then, General Godzilla had an idea. He grabbed a group of combat engineers off the power generators, and had them rig explosives around the area where one of his squads was ambushed. Detonating it, he was able to repeat the Ithkul's bulkhead smash in reverse. Pouring his troops into the breach, he was able to penetrate that much deeper into the ship. Here came the real surprise, as the Ithkul dropped the hit-and-run approach.  
  
The first thing anyone knew of it was when all Ithkul resistance ceased. Pausing, the column of Sakkra marines looked around warily. There was no reason for the Ithkul to stop firing. Spreading out a little, they began moving again. Suddenly, lances of red light blasted into the column. The lances existed for a split second, and then they dimmed. They swirled, and dissipated, as the air they had passed through began to mix with the rest of it. The Sakkra marines that had been hit held still for an instant. Roaring, they charged forward. Most of them did, anyway. Those that had been hit fell forward, and swiftly crumpled into dust. Blasts of green light began returning fire at the now swarming Ithkul. Each side had the corridors filled with bodies, and the fighting swiftly turned sharp claw-to- slimy tentacle.  
  
Sakkra marines rushed up, and tried slashing with their outstretched hands, while the Ithkul used their tentacles to whip down on the marines, often ripping long furrows in the marines armor as the tentacle adhered to the armor just long enough to tear it off. The instant an Ithkul managed to draw blood, it sent all its myriad tentacles roaring into the wound, and began drinking. Any Sakkra so affected was able to see what the Ithkul actually looked like: a massive plate of armor, clenched onto a human torso, with a head that reached up and plugged into a human head. The armor reached around into the back, where what looked like claws dug into the skin, and beneath it into the bones of the ribcage and spinal cord. Out of the gaps between the claws sprouted the tentacles that ripped and flailed at the marines, long and slimy with sharp, hard, and hollow tips. The rest of the Ithkul was hard, harder than even the Sakkra scales. The human eyes glared out of large, fish-eye lenses formed by the Ithkul, and the human mouth beneath the plated of armor was wide open, with the Ithkul using it as its main access point, where it interfaced with the body. Food was ingested through the tentacles shoved several feet into the body of its prey, and air was absorbed through the Ithkul's pores. After a few seconds the Sakkra seeing this image fell slumped against the Ithkul, drained of all its blood. The Ithkul then withdrew from the marine's body the tentacles that had been holding it in a tight embrace. Had there been time, the Ithkul would have spat some acid inside the body to turn it into an edible soup, or opened up its armored shell enough to crunch into the remains.  
  
The marines slowly pushed the Ithkul back, through superior numbers and nothing else. For every Ithkul that fell, two took its place. For every Sakkra that fell, ten took its place. The fight was not one sided, as for every Ithkul that fell five marines died. The marines slowly pushed the Ithkul back, until the corridor suddenly opened up. Before the marines was the core of the Ithkul area. Swarming over a giant something, the Ithkul filled the room, coating the walls and whatever it was they were guarding. Finally, the marine's had enough room to bring their disrupter rifles back into play without killing each other. However, the Ithkul could bring their disintegrator rifles into play as well. Suddenly, the odds were in the Ithkul's favor, as their lesser numbers were counterbalance by a very simple fact: the Sakkra could no longer bring as many marines to bear as the Ithkul could. The Sakkra pushed through, and slowly balanced out the odds, but the losses were telling. Just before Godzilla was about to call a retreat, the Ithkul lines broke and the Sakkra rushed into the space. Red and green beams danced around each other, with green becoming more and more predominant. Finally, the whine of overloading weapons and roar of fighting soldiers softened, and died out. All that was left was the ticking of overheated metal cooling, the heavy breathing of the Sakkra marines, and the whisper of decaying corpses. The enormous room, no clear of living Ithkul, was covered with the handholds and protuberances the Ithkul has clung to. In the center of the room was a large, pulsating mass of ooze that coated a feeding area. Filled with body parts from many species, it stank of death and decay. One remaining Ithkul - its host dead - crawled towards them, and sank its tentacles in and fed. A Sakkran marine, disgusted, destroyed the last remaining Ithkul. All was silent, until one marine growled. Not the growl of combat, or pain, but of victory! 


	17. Part 17

Part 17  
  
The harsh buzzer of status update disrupted the calm atmosphere and the command deck. The OOD quickly silenced it, and looked at the new info. Pausing, he looked around, and with a carefully neutral tone said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I want confirmation of this ten minutes ago. I'll let the admiral know." He walked through a nearby hatch, and dogged it shut behind him. Turning around, he saw a very special com system. He quickly flipped through its command menus and buzzed Admiral Kane's quarters. Getting no response, he queried the central computer for the admiral's location. Grimacing, he buzzed the officer's mess hall, where the victory party was being held. An ensign quickly picked up, and at the barked command got the admiral. "Sir, we have a problem."  
  
Kane sighed and rolled his eyes. "Of course we have a problem. Why else would you be interrupting me in the middle of this celebration? Now, why don't you tell me what the problem is."  
  
The OOD gulped, and glanced away from the screen. "Sir, the Ithkul..."  
  
"Yes." Kane's voice had lost all semblance of humor.  
  
"They sent some more forces. Big time sir." The OOD still refused to meet Kane's gaze.  
  
"What are we talking about? Same as last time? Twice as large?"  
  
"Worse sir. Light forces are weaker by maybe thirty percent... but they have more big ones." The OOD was so uncomfortable he almost didn't add the last part.  
  
"Get to the point, now." Kane snapped.  
  
The OOD met Kane's gaze, imploring him to understand. "Sir, we have at least forty-eight of the larger ships incoming."  
  
"Get a confirmation. I'll be on the bridge soon. ETA?"  
  
"None yet."  
  
Back on the bridge, Kane took a long look at the peaceful view of the planet below. Sitting down in his chair, he activated the emergency overrides for all com units in the system. Harsh, gyrating tones grated on the ears of almost every person in the system until they turned their units on. Waiting thirty seconds, Kane began. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a- . No. I'll be plain. We're screwed. We have incoming Ithkul forces, and this system will have to be abandoned. Its not the only one we're going to be yielding either. I can only promise this - we'll make them bleed. We still don't have an ETA, but it looks like we may have almost six months. I intend to evacuate all non-combatants, and convert all stationary defenses to automated systems. Anything not strictly needed for combat will be destroyed before they get here. I'm operating on a scorched earth policy. Anyone who refuses evacuation will die at Ithkul hands... so we won't wait for them to get around to it. It's my intention to plant bombs to irradiate the planets in this system once we're gone. Evacuation will begin immediately. As in right now. Get your things together, and activate the emergency plans. I hope to God you practiced them religiously." Kane cut the com system. At the shocked glares of his crewmembers, he bellowed. "What else do you expect me to do? Short of a miracle, there is no fucking way we can hold! Not even the New Orions could handle this kind of firepower!" Breathing deeply, he calmed down. "Communications, I need an emergency connection to the President."  
  
Pacing the bridge, Kane kept on looking at the planet below. When the connection finally went through, Kane informed her of his plans. At her shocked gaze, he explained. "Ma'am, we're in way over our heads. I lost well over half my fleet dealing with three of those monsters. That fleet represented a third of the total firepower available to us, and currently the majority of that firepower is not mobile. Even if all our allies were to send all their starships, we couldn't do jack squat. I don't like it anymore than you do, but for now we're just going to have to give them ground. Specifically, we evacuate Yevon and New Sol systems. In addition, we have to evacuate all systems with a direct connection to those systems. I'd recommend going at least three lanes out, but that's your decision. We have to bleed them, slowly. If I'm allowed full room to maneuver, I should be able to take out twice the tonnage they take out. Otherwise, they'll wipe us out in an hour or less." The animation went out of Kane's body, and he stared her in the face. "God help us if that happens."  
  
Glancing at her console, the president sobbed. "God help us if your wrong, Admiral. Do as you think best. I'll inform our allies, get what help I can. It's in their best interest, and by now they know it."  
  
"Ma'am?" Kane asked.  
  
"One of the Eoladi planets was hit an hour ago captain. Their defenses fell in seconds. We've gotten a hold of some of the video footage from the ground. The Ithkul razed the planet. They landed a few battalions of marines. That's all. The marine's ate everyone there. There are almost five billion dead." 


	18. Part 18

Part 18  
  
The load - overly so - music reverberated throughout the cabin, a palpable presence in the air.  
  
" Every single night the same arrangement  
I go out and fight the fight.  
Still I always feel the strange estrangement  
Nothing here is real, nothing here is right."  
  
A chime at the hatch went unheard, so the person on the other side just banged on it with a handy piece of piping. Kane paused his music, and softly said, "Enter."  
  
"Are you alright sir?" Captain McDonigal said brightly.  
  
"Considering my orders, I'd say that's pretty stupid question captain." Kane muttered.  
  
Instantly contrite, Captain McDonigal rephrased himself. "Of course sir. I'm sorry... but considering, how are you?"  
  
Kane sighed, ran his hands through his hair and stretched. Voice artificially bright, he ran through the situation. "Lets see, I've ordered the evacuation and destruction of over twenty separate systems in the last six months. So, I've failed my oath, I'm getting my people killed, and losing ground in the process. In addition to this the enemy we face keeps on growing stronger as we grow weaker. We're about three jumps from a nodal system we have to control or lose this war, and our odds of holding there are less than the proverbial snowball in hell's. Oh, and lets not forget that every single person the Ithkul capture is killed in a gruesome and painful manner, and it appears that we are going to have to deal with them on a second front." Kane paused, and in a sad voice continued. "Is it any wonder I'm depressed?"  
  
"No sir." Captain McDonigal admitted. "Then again, there isn't any reason for you to stay in here and not do your job."  
  
"You know your job, I've given you your orders, and anything else is superfluous. Besides, you're doing my job better than I can." Kane snapped. "Mind leaving me alone?" Kane went to turn on his music, and Captain McDonigal snapped his hand out and stopped him.  
  
"Yes sir, I do mind leaving you alone."  
  
"How dare you! Guards!"  
  
"They won't come captain. They have their orders, and I have mine. You're coming with me." McDonigal grabbed a hypospray from his pocket and injected Kane with its contents. Kane tried to hold onto McDonigal, but instead slipped to the ground, unconscious.  
  
McDonigal sighed, and picked Kane up. Walking out the door, he placed his admiral on the medical gurney there, left in anticipation of his needs. Nodding to the medics, McDonigal returned to the bridge.  
  
"Admiral, how do you feel?" A medtech asked.  
  
Kane groaned, and began to sit up, only to be cut off by straps across his chest. His eyes flew open, taking in the surroundings. This wasn't medbay! "Where am I?" He asked.  
  
"Psych ward one." The medtech - no, Kane realized, psychiatrist - replied. "How do you feel?"  
  
"Angry. What the hell does McDonigal think he's playing at?" Kane snarled, and then paused. "What drugs do you have me on?"  
  
"Verina and Metrina. Some people call them mind-open and emotion-out. Do you want the formulas, or is that enough?" The psychiatrist smiled. "We don't exactly have a lot of time to get you back in shape."  
  
"Of course I don't want the formulas. But you can't use those on me unless I give permission!" Kane snarled, understanding why he was so open. Those drugs, in combination, acted to relax all mental barriers, preventing any self-control from interfering in a person's behavior, making them legally insane. He could do nothing but tell the truth and act as his basic impulses demanded - which was undoubtedly why he was strapped in, lest he smash the skulls of those idiotic, moronic sons-of-apes that had done this to him! To him, the person in charge of this fleet and the only hope of humanity! Hell, the only hope this entire section of the fucking galaxy had of survival! I never wanted it. I don't want it, but its mine. Kane paused, and realized he'd been speaking out loud. He began to eloquently curse the genome and ancestry of both the psychiatrist and Captain McDonigal, occasionally slipping out small bits that he'd forgotten about. The pain of Kirks repeated betrayals, his still being alive in spite of Kane's repeated - and unconscious - attempts to get him killed, and most of all how much it hurt, not that he was giving ground or losing lives, but that he had thought he could save them.  
  
After a while, Kane began to fall asleep, and a soothing series of sounds and images played out in front of him, a pleasant lullaby. The days passed by, with psychiatrists carefully guiding him through his own mind, letting him find the problems and deal with them. Soon, less than a week after he had first entered, they certified him for release. One of them commented, "Man, that guy was messed up! It took forever to get him through this!" only to be hushed by his superior's harsh, "If you commanded this fleet you'd be just as bad off. I'm amazed it didn't take a month." A couple of others laughed - no one had needed a month in a psych ward since the invention of Verina and Metrina.  
  
Kane walked into this conversation, and zeroed in on the officer in charge of the ward. "Just out of curiosity, did I say anything... Did I..." Kane stopped, and looked away.  
  
"Sir, one of the primary rules of psychology is that what is said in the ward, stays in the ward. All records are permanently sealed, or at least until your next visit, and anyone who mentions anything you said while you were in there is court-martialed, instantly. We couldn't use the mind- drugs otherwise, even though they do cut the time needed for therapy."  
  
"Thinking of which, I thought they could only be used with a person's permission?" Kane probed.  
  
"There are exceptions. Cases of extreme depression, such as what you were experiencing, can often reach the point of becoming legal insanity. And as you are aware, those who are legally insane loose the right to refuse treatment." The officer looked away, and walked off.  
  
"I see." Kane said, and walked out. 


End file.
